Darren Laur
New member
EMOTIONAL FEAR AS YOUR ALLY
When I wrote the “Anatomy Of Fear”, I discussed the Physical/Biological effects that it would have in a spontaneous “low road” encounter on motor skill performance, and how we need to ensure that our training is congruent with this response. This posting will now discuss the emotional/psychological side of the fear response, and how we can harness it in a positive way.
A recent study conducted by a well-respected organization in the United States determined that in 80% of attacks on women (I would even extrapolate this to men as well), the predator frightened his victim into submission simply by using verbal intimidation. The mind guides the body. The street predator knows that if he is able to paralyze your mind through fear, your body will freeze also, no matter how much physical training you have.
What is fear? Most people view fear as an extremely negative feeling which causes one to totally freeze and panic, and as a result get hurt. Although this is a common belief, it is not quite accurate.
Fear is both a physical (The Anatomy Of Fear)) and an emotional response to a perceived threat or danger. The physical reactions prepare us to confront and survive a dangerous situation, by readying autonomic functions for self-preservation and trauma. Heart rate increases; adrenaline and blood clotting enzymes are released to make the body stronger, faster and less likely to feel pain. Although the biological response to fear does not differ from person to person, the emotional response will, based upon one’s perception of threat. It is this perception of threat that can, and will, differ from person to person based upon training and learned past experiences in how to deal with the specific threat encountered. What may seem to be a threatening situation to one person may not be to another.
This emotional response to fear is both learned and voluntary. A learned experience is generally taught to you. For instance, if you are a parent who has arachnophobia, and you see a spider crawling across the floor, your first reaction may be to scream and jump on a chair. Your small child will soon begin to “model” his behavior in the same way. Seeing the spider will trigger the learned fear response.
The voluntary reaction is what we choose to do when faced with a dangerous situation. Unfortunately, many people use fear in a self-defeating, negative way rather than with a challenging positive attitude.
Perceived threats trigger our learned and voluntary responses and any three will occur: fight, flight, or hypervigilance. A lot of us know about the fight or flight response, but not many of us know about hypervigilance. Hypervigilance (freezing in place or taking irrational actions) is something that we are all inbred and programmed with from the cave man days, at the “reptilian brain” or “frog brain” level. For those of you that have seen Jurassic Park the movie, what do the experts in the move yell to those people who were running from the Tyrannosaurus Rex ? Why ? because it was “hypothesized” that dinosaurs hunted via movement. Now, lets bring this to the tear 2002. Lets say you are traveling mach factor ten down a deserted highway in the middle of the night with your high beams on, when all of a sudden a deer jumps out in front of your car. What does the deer do ? It freezes. Why? Does it see the car as a car? No, it sees the car as a threat. What does Bambi do when it sees or senses a threat in the bush? It freezes, in an attempt to not be seen by that which is potentially hunting it. Like Bambi, we have this same response programmed into us as well. Once caught in a state of hypervigilance, it is a downward spiral that once caught into, is very difficult, if not impossible, to get out of. Why is this important? Because the mind guides the body. If the brain freezes, so will the body !!!!! Allowing yourself to become stuck in a state of hypervigilance, both mentally and physically, will most certainly allow the attacker to succeed, or will prevent you from becoming proactive in dealing with the situation at hand.
The emotional response to fear, need not be mental immobility; it can be trained and utilized as a voluntary, positive force. An analogy can be drawn by comparing the fear emotion, with electricity. When used positively and appropriately, electricity runs our lives; when used negatively and carelessly, electricity can kill. The emotion of fear is the same way; used in a positive way, the emotion of fear is a “powerizer” and an “energizer”. Used in a negative way, the emotion of fear can cause one to panic, freeze, get seriously injured, and in the worse cases, even killed. What you choose to do with the emotion of fear – allow it to control you, or harness the energy – is left up to you to decide, it is a conscious choice, but the decision you make could mean the difference between winning or loosing.
So now we know that fear is simply an “emotion”, just like any other emotion that the good Lord gives us. We also now know that although the emotion of fear is triggered based upon one’s perception of threat, which could differ from person to person, biologically it reacts the same in each and everyone of us. We also now know that when the emotion of fear hits, one of three responses; fight, flight, or hypervigilance, will take place. Based upon what I just shared with you about the hypervigilant state, I think you will agree that we want to pick the “fight” or “flight” response. How do you choose fight or flight and not the hypervigilance response? The answer is simple in concept; ask yourself: “ Am I threatened or am I challenged?”
To understand this concept, place yourself on the following scenario: You are in an office building that has thirty floors, and wanting to go to the top floor, you decide to use the elevator. When the elevator arrives, with no one inside, you enter and start your ascent. Arriving at the tenth floor, the door opens and standing in fornt of you is an unknown male, 6’5”, 250 ponds, built like a Mac truck, brandishing a knife and saying, “ shut up and I won’t hurt you, if you scream, you’re dead.” Now ask yourself , “Am I threatened or am I challenged?” Most people , when faced with this situation, will say they are threatened.
When I wrote the “Anatomy Of Fear”, I discussed the Physical/Biological effects that it would have in a spontaneous “low road” encounter on motor skill performance, and how we need to ensure that our training is congruent with this response. This posting will now discuss the emotional/psychological side of the fear response, and how we can harness it in a positive way.
A recent study conducted by a well-respected organization in the United States determined that in 80% of attacks on women (I would even extrapolate this to men as well), the predator frightened his victim into submission simply by using verbal intimidation. The mind guides the body. The street predator knows that if he is able to paralyze your mind through fear, your body will freeze also, no matter how much physical training you have.
What is fear? Most people view fear as an extremely negative feeling which causes one to totally freeze and panic, and as a result get hurt. Although this is a common belief, it is not quite accurate.
Fear is both a physical (The Anatomy Of Fear)) and an emotional response to a perceived threat or danger. The physical reactions prepare us to confront and survive a dangerous situation, by readying autonomic functions for self-preservation and trauma. Heart rate increases; adrenaline and blood clotting enzymes are released to make the body stronger, faster and less likely to feel pain. Although the biological response to fear does not differ from person to person, the emotional response will, based upon one’s perception of threat. It is this perception of threat that can, and will, differ from person to person based upon training and learned past experiences in how to deal with the specific threat encountered. What may seem to be a threatening situation to one person may not be to another.
This emotional response to fear is both learned and voluntary. A learned experience is generally taught to you. For instance, if you are a parent who has arachnophobia, and you see a spider crawling across the floor, your first reaction may be to scream and jump on a chair. Your small child will soon begin to “model” his behavior in the same way. Seeing the spider will trigger the learned fear response.
The voluntary reaction is what we choose to do when faced with a dangerous situation. Unfortunately, many people use fear in a self-defeating, negative way rather than with a challenging positive attitude.
Perceived threats trigger our learned and voluntary responses and any three will occur: fight, flight, or hypervigilance. A lot of us know about the fight or flight response, but not many of us know about hypervigilance. Hypervigilance (freezing in place or taking irrational actions) is something that we are all inbred and programmed with from the cave man days, at the “reptilian brain” or “frog brain” level. For those of you that have seen Jurassic Park the movie, what do the experts in the move yell to those people who were running from the Tyrannosaurus Rex ? Why ? because it was “hypothesized” that dinosaurs hunted via movement. Now, lets bring this to the tear 2002. Lets say you are traveling mach factor ten down a deserted highway in the middle of the night with your high beams on, when all of a sudden a deer jumps out in front of your car. What does the deer do ? It freezes. Why? Does it see the car as a car? No, it sees the car as a threat. What does Bambi do when it sees or senses a threat in the bush? It freezes, in an attempt to not be seen by that which is potentially hunting it. Like Bambi, we have this same response programmed into us as well. Once caught in a state of hypervigilance, it is a downward spiral that once caught into, is very difficult, if not impossible, to get out of. Why is this important? Because the mind guides the body. If the brain freezes, so will the body !!!!! Allowing yourself to become stuck in a state of hypervigilance, both mentally and physically, will most certainly allow the attacker to succeed, or will prevent you from becoming proactive in dealing with the situation at hand.
The emotional response to fear, need not be mental immobility; it can be trained and utilized as a voluntary, positive force. An analogy can be drawn by comparing the fear emotion, with electricity. When used positively and appropriately, electricity runs our lives; when used negatively and carelessly, electricity can kill. The emotion of fear is the same way; used in a positive way, the emotion of fear is a “powerizer” and an “energizer”. Used in a negative way, the emotion of fear can cause one to panic, freeze, get seriously injured, and in the worse cases, even killed. What you choose to do with the emotion of fear – allow it to control you, or harness the energy – is left up to you to decide, it is a conscious choice, but the decision you make could mean the difference between winning or loosing.
So now we know that fear is simply an “emotion”, just like any other emotion that the good Lord gives us. We also now know that although the emotion of fear is triggered based upon one’s perception of threat, which could differ from person to person, biologically it reacts the same in each and everyone of us. We also now know that when the emotion of fear hits, one of three responses; fight, flight, or hypervigilance, will take place. Based upon what I just shared with you about the hypervigilant state, I think you will agree that we want to pick the “fight” or “flight” response. How do you choose fight or flight and not the hypervigilance response? The answer is simple in concept; ask yourself: “ Am I threatened or am I challenged?”
To understand this concept, place yourself on the following scenario: You are in an office building that has thirty floors, and wanting to go to the top floor, you decide to use the elevator. When the elevator arrives, with no one inside, you enter and start your ascent. Arriving at the tenth floor, the door opens and standing in fornt of you is an unknown male, 6’5”, 250 ponds, built like a Mac truck, brandishing a knife and saying, “ shut up and I won’t hurt you, if you scream, you’re dead.” Now ask yourself , “Am I threatened or am I challenged?” Most people , when faced with this situation, will say they are threatened.