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Overcoming Fear |
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© George Hartwell M.Sc., 2004, all rights reserved |
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Anxiety is a psychological pain signal. Spill boiling water on yourself and you feel pain. Think, ruminate, meditate about pessimistic possibilities and you feel psycholgical pain. We call it worry. We call it anxiety. It can grow to fear and panic. Pain is a signal - an important signal - important for survival. Even though it hurts; it is good; it can be essential. We learn not to spill scalding water. We remove our hand from the source of the pain. Anxiety is like that - a helpful signal that one's 'psychology' (soul, spirit) is hurting. An alarm is going off in your heart (emotional brain). A signal demanding acion. Alarms call us to action; to deal with the cause. We are being urged to intervene - to do something. Anxiety calls us to discover the cause and solve the problem. Stop whatever you are doing to cause the pain. Thinking does not stop pain in the body. Action does. Thinking (head) does not stop emotional pain which is in the heart. Though it helps to choose not to think negative all the time. Anxiety and fear come from the feeling brain (heart) and one must touch, change, heal one's heart. Find a way to reach and heal the wound in your emotional brain (heart). To deal with anxiety you must find a way to heal your heart, reprogram your emtional brain. The 'program' includes beliefs, perceptions, feelings and behaviours. The program even touches others in your life's play and seems to call for them to reenact old painful patterns. Yes, old events, emotional events in particular, are recorded in our emotional brain. "An event' is a record of what was said and done (your observations), what you thought was happening (perspective), how you judged what was happening (evaluation as to good, bad and ugly), emotions (based on how you felt in response to your perspective and evaluation), decisions you made or goals you set (choices made on the basis of how you felt in response to your perspective and evaluation) and behaviour you exhibited (chosen and learned methods of coping). The reason it is hard to change a person is that years of experience, stacks of memories, confirm one's personal pattern of seeing, thinking, feeling, choosing and acting. The program has been written. However we need our emotional brain. Without our emotional memories you would not be able to make a decision, establish priorities and move forward with passion and authority. You need your emotional brain. Did you know that there are times when the emotional brain overides the frontal cortex? In an emergency your emotional brain takes over. It overides your thinking brain. And do you know what that means? It means that when you are emotional you may not think straight. Your emotional braom takes control. That means that education and insight is not able to reprogram your emotional brain. For example, the educational component of an anger management course is not very effective in changing behavior when things get intense. Anxiety and fear programming requires an approach that can alter emotional programming. Many treatments can do that. ONe method uses Eye Movement while emotions are triggered. Another uses tapping on meridian points while recalling emotions. Desensitization pairs a competing response with the fear stimulus. For example, deep relaxation is paired with a progression of imagined anxiety provoking situations that are imagined. Listening Prayer Methods follow the emotion back into the original event, stirring up the original beliefs and feelings. Jesus is invited in to this memory especially listening for His truth to counteract the perspective that became fixed in place in the trauma event.
One reason that the Bible has repeated admonitions not to fear is that our fear undermines what god wants in our life. Fear turns prayer to worry or demand. Fear destroys faith. Fear engenders tension and cuts us off from the flow of God's life, thus Fear brings disease and illness. Fear counteracts love. Fear blocks us from listening to others. Fear blocks us from listening to God. Fears keep us trying to hide, cover up and pretend. Fear, therefore, blocks us from being real and Fear stops us from being open with God about our faults, in confession.
Why is it so hard to change?
From the perspective of Listening Prayer Therapy, fear includes distorted perceptions, wrong beliefs, painful feeling, unhealthy choices and dysfunctional behaviour. An event starts with what our sense pick up from the environment such as what we see and hear. Our mind immediately evaluates this input and makes a judgment based on past experience. On the basis of that judgment our emotions come into play. Then we make a decision and act upon that decision. Our memory of our life is made up of many such events. Very early in our life we learn to see patterns in our events. We learn. We develop concepts and beliefs. We begin to recognize patterns in our environment and learn what these patterns mean. We need to learn patterns and develop patterns of response or else we would be overwhelmed by information overload and be immobilized. Our own unique ways of interpreting life give us our uniqueness, our personality. Each of us will develop different patterns. We will see things differently - different perceptions. We differ in our evaluations of things - different beliefs. We differ in our decisions of what to do - different rules to live by. And we have different ways of acting upon our different perceptions, beliefs, emotions and decisions. Until we have a different experience it will be hard for us to be different. We are going to see, think, feel, choose and act in ways that make sense to us. What else are we to do but act upon what we believe?
Some methods that do not bring good results The following methods of changing people have had some success: 1.Education - teaching them a different way to think and act, 2.Insight - spending time with them to help them understand their life patterns, 3.Preaching - telling them they should think and act differently, 4.Punishment - imposing punishment upon them for acting the way they do. Although we use these methods and believe in them if we use them, they are often unable to change emotions and behaviour based on deeply ingrained experience. Counselling based on analysis can develop people with great insight but they are not healed. Preaching the right way even after years of application seems ineffective in changing deeply engrained patterns based on childhood training or trauma. The prison experience doesn't seem very effective in bringing about a changed life style. Education such as healthy patterns of cooking nutritious food taught over five years of high school seems not to change the cooking patterns learned in the home when a woman gets married and starts her own home. Teaching people about a problem such as alcohol abuse, sexual abstinence, drug use, smoking is not highly effective in breaking these behaviours.
Need for a Therapy that Works The money, time and energy we invest in the above methods have resulted in limited success. We need to find a method that works. We need a therapy that does bring healing; a method of preaching that does change longstanding patterns; methods of education that can effectively break cultural patterns. We are wasting time, energy and resources and not getting results. Enough of years of analysis, it is time for healing of lives. Time for some new models of education, of preaching of corrections. We need something that works! Listening Prayer Therapy is one method that does get results. Time isn't wasted because healing happens in every session. Money isn't wasted because the ancient walls are being rebuilt - family and cultural patterns are becoming healthy. Future generations will benefit from parents that took the time to shed the baggage of the past to produce godly offspring.
Listening Prayer Therapy Theory The theory is that an encounter with God is healing because God is holy and holy means healthy. God's Holy presence is intolerant of sickness, sin, ugliness, and lies. An encounter with God's truth corrects the lies established by past experience because an encounter with God is a new experience that supercedes past experience. The theory of Listening Prayer Therapy is that each of the elements of experience can be corrected, healed, saved, delivered by an encounter with Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life. His truth sets us free from our unbelief because His Word is living and active and powerful and overcomes our beliefs better than counselling, education, insight, punishment or preaching. When our feelings need healing or deliverance, we can call upon the Spirit of Jesus. We call upon His Life. Jesus takes upon himself those things we give to Him and we have complete release. Jesus cleans up fear, shame, guilt, etc and it is gone.
Listening Prayer Therapy in Action The fundamental practice of Listening Prayer Therapy involves praying to invite God's presence and guidance and then being sensitive to God's guidance. Another term for being sensitive to God's guidance is "listening." So Listening Prayer Therapy involves both prayer and listening on the part of the therapist. The therapist needs to have faith that God will act, the humility to let him act and wisdom to know when to step out of the way and let Him act. It is a case of decreasing so He - Jesus - can increase. It is dying to one's own ministry and its glory so that one can see the Ministry of Jesus and God's glory.
The Key Point in the Session The crucial point is when you know it is time to pray and give things to God. You may not understand the problem (God does) and you may not know what method to use, but you know God is faithful. Stop to pray and to begin the times of "Listening Prayer."
Opening Proclamation It is often important for the person seeking healing to state our loud in prayer to God that they are asking for healing (of deliverance) and that they are putting Jesus in charge of this process. I sometimes word this as asking Jesus to be Lord, Saviour, Healer and Deliverer of this problem or issue. It may be necessary to repeat the prayer if the person asks Jesus to "Help" them with the problem. This is more than asking for help. This is putting him completely in charge. This is surrender.
You give some Direction to the Process. You now set the stage for an encounter with God. You decide how to do this. You may spend some time in silent prayer and ask what the person sensed, thought about or remembered. You may begin a process that goes into a memory. You may set a scene where the person is speaking to Jesus and telling their grief or asking a question. You may innovate a new method of bringing about the healing encounter. The Holy Spirit may takes things in a particular direction through a vision. Be prepared: after you set things in motion it may be time for you to be silent, watch, listen and pray.
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Overcoming Fear
© George Hartwell M.Sc., 2004, all rights reserved
Anxiety and fear are psychological pain signals. Spill boiling ater on yourself and you feel pain. Think, ruminate, meditate about pessimistic possibilities and you will feel psycholgical pain. We call it worry. We call it anxiety. It can grow to fear and panic.
Pain is a signal - an important signal - important for survival. Even though it hurts; it is good; it can be essential.
Anxiety is like that - a helpful signal that something in one's 'psychology' (soul, spirit) is hurting. An alarm is going off.
Alarms call us to action; to deal with the cause. Anxiety should be a call to discover the cause and solve the problem.
believe and Fear can be overcome. Fear must be overcome.inner vows)
Fear is about being isolated, cut off, without those close bonds of love that nurture us, secure us and encourage us. Like a sheep lost from the flock or a baby without a mother, we are afraid when we are alone.
In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and experienced shame and fear. They hid themselves from their Creator, their God and their Father.
People who as children were dislocated from their relationship from their father or mother live with deep loneliness and fear. In the extreme such a one lives in torment in their inner being.
When one has lost a husband or father or source of protection in one's life, one is more likely to experience panic attacks. If these panic attacks are not overcome they came to control a person's life.
If we continue to life with fear as our master, then we will not enter into the fullness of life abundant. We will resist life. We will avoid love. We will try to eliminate risk in our life.
One reason that the Bible has repeated admonitions not to fear is that our fear undermines what god wants in our life.
Fear turns prayer to worry or demand.
Fear destroys faith.
Fear engenders tension and cuts us off from the flow of God's life, thus
Fear brings disease and illness.
Fear counteracts love.
Fear blocks us from listening to others.
Fear blocks us from listening to God.
Fears keep us trying to hide, cover up and pretend.
Fear, therefore, blocks us from being real and
Fear stops us from being open with God about our faults, in confession.
Why is it so hard to change?
From the perspective of Listening Prayer Therapy, fear includes distorted perceptions, wrong beliefs, painful feeling, unhealthy choices and dysfunctional behaviour.
An event starts with what our sense pick up from the environment such as what we see and hear. Our mind immediately evaluates this input and makes a judgment based on past experience. On the basis of that judgment our emotions come into play. Then we make a decision and act upon that decision.
Our memory of our life is made up of many such events. Very early in our life we learn to see patterns in our events. We learn. We develop concepts and beliefs. We begin to recognize patterns in our environment and learn what these patterns mean. We need to learn patterns and develop patterns of response or else we would be overwhelmed by information overload and be immobilized.
Our own unique ways of interpreting life give us our uniqueness, our personality. Each of us will develop different patterns. We will see things differently - different perceptions. We differ in our evaluations of things - different beliefs. We differ in our decisions of what to do - different rules to live by. And we have different ways of acting upon our different perceptions, beliefs, emotions and decisions.
Until we have a different experience it will be hard for us to be different. We are going to see, think, feel, choose and act in ways that make sense to us. What else are we to do but act upon what we believe?
The reason it is hard to change a person is that years of experience, stacks of memories, confirm one's personal pattern of seeing, thinking, feeling, choosing and acting.
Some methods that do not bring good results
The following methods of changing people have had some success:
1.Education - teaching them a different way to think and act,
2.Insight - spending time with them to help them understand their life patterns,
3.Preaching - telling them they should think and act differently,
4.Punishment - imposing punishment upon them for acting the way they do.
Although we use these methods and believe in them if we use them, they are often unable to change emotions and behaviour based on deeply ingrained experience.
Counselling based on analysis can develop people with great insight but they are not healed. Preaching the right way even after years of application seems ineffective in changing deeply engrained patterns based on childhood training or trauma. The prison experience doesn't seem very effective in bringing about a changed life style.
Education such as healthy patterns of cooking nutritious food taught over five years of high school seems not to change the cooking patterns learned in the home when a woman gets married and starts her own home. Teaching people about a problem such as alcohol abuse, sexual abstinence, drug use, smoking is not highly effective in breaking these behaviours.
Need for a Therapy that Works
The money, time and energy we invest in the above methods have resulted in limited success. We need to find a method that works. We need a therapy that does bring healing; a method of preaching that does change longstanding patterns; methods of education that can effectively break cultural patterns. We are wasting time, energy and resources and not getting results.
Enough of years of analysis, it is time for healing of lives. Time for some new models of education, of preaching of corrections. We need something that works!
Listening Prayer Therapy is one method that does get results. Time isn't wasted because healing happens in every session. Money isn't wasted because the ancient walls are being rebuilt - family and cultural patterns are becoming healthy. Future generations will benefit from parents that took the time to shed the baggage of the past to produce godly offspring.
Listening Prayer Therapy Theory
The theory is that an encounter with God is healing because God is holy and holy means healthy. God's Holy presence is intolerant of sickness, sin, ugliness, and lies. An encounter with God's truth corrects the lies established by past experience because an encounter with God is a new experience that supercedes past experience.
The theory of Listening Prayer Therapy is that each of the elements of experience can be corrected, healed, saved, delivered by an encounter with Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life. His truth sets us free from our unbelief because His Word is living and active and powerful and overcomes our beliefs better than counselling, education, insight, punishment or preaching.
When our feelings need healing or deliverance, we can call upon the Spirit of Jesus. We call upon His Life. Jesus takes upon himself those things we give to Him and we have complete release. Jesus cleans up fear, shame, guilt, etc and it is gone.
Listening Prayer Therapy in Action
The fundamental practice of Listening Prayer Therapy involves praying to invite God's presence and guidance and then being sensitive to God's guidance. Another term for being sensitive to God's guidance is "listening." So Listening Prayer Therapy involves both prayer and listening on the part of the therapist.
The therapist needs to have faith that God will act, the humility to let him act and wisdom to know when to step out of the way and let Him act. It is a case of decreasing so He - Jesus - can increase. It is dying to one's own ministry and its glory so that one can see the Ministry of Jesus and God's glory.
The Key Point in the Session
The crucial point is when you know it is time to pray and give things to God. You may not understand the problem (God does) and you may not know what method to use, but you know God is faithful. Stop to pray and to begin the times of "Listening Prayer."
Opening Proclamation
It is often important for the person seeking healing to state our loud in prayer to God that they are asking for healing (of deliverance) and that they are putting Jesus in charge of this process. I sometimes word this as asking Jesus to be Lord, Saviour, Healer and Deliverer of this problem or issue. It may be necessary to repeat the prayer if the person asks Jesus to "Help" them with the problem. This is more than asking for help. This is putting him completely in charge. This is surrender.
You give some Direction to the Process.
You now set the stage for an encounter with God. You decide how to do this. You may spend some time in silent prayer and ask what the person sensed, thought about or remembered. You may begin a process that goes into a memory. You may set a scene where the person is speaking to Jesus and telling their grief or asking a question. You may innovate a new method of bringing about the healing encounter. The Holy Spirit may takes things in a particular direction through a vision. Be prepared: after you set things in motion it may be time for you to be silent, watch, listen and pray.