Personal Development for Smart People^TM Forums

aggie · 08-20-2009, 12:55 AM

need advice and help please:

i have developed over my life an intense, serious phobia with heights...especially driving over bridges...the higher the worse it gets and if it is over water it is the absolute ultimate freak out.

it has gotten more debilitating as time has gone on and years have passed. several years back i forced myself to do some things...i understand this is part of some phobia therapy and it worked for a while...but 10 years later it is worse than ever.

when i was a child and adolescent i used to have recurring dreams about going off of or over bridges in a car into the water.

do people just develop phobias...or could this be an indication of something that happened in a past life.

when i get the money, i am seriously considering hypnosis/regression therapy to overcome this...i feel so stupid sometimes...it is so hard to explain to people and have them really understand.

any suggestions would be most welcome and appreciated. thanks.

codenamesmiley · 08-20-2009, 03:46 AM

Hi Aggie,

I think that you would definitely benefit from past life regression therapy.

I'm sorry you have fear. I hope you find peace with it.

Blessings,
Rebecca

Mogget · 08-20-2009, 06:33 AM

Can I ask how severe the phobia is? Is it an intense horrible fear or a total hysterical paralysis? Is crossing a bridge difficult or impossible?

I ask because a phobia is different to an intense fear and they can be approached differently in terms of treatment.

I used to have an intense horrible fear (but not actually a phobia) of crossing bridges myself (and I am still not crazy about them!) but I can do it if I need to. On the other hand ny brother has a genuine phobia of spiders and when he sees one he throws up then passes out. Now that is a phobic response!

Past life regression is a useful metaphor for healing whether or not you Believe in past lives, so you may find it useful... personally I would be wither working with NLP if it is a genuine phobia, or with a combo of RET, anchoring and submodality work if it is an intense fear as I have seen and used these to great effect in clients with intense fears.

aggie · 08-20-2009, 02:40 PM

it is pretty bad even if i am just riding as a passenger with someone else driving...i have to either close my eyes, focus intently on something else or else will start to hyperventilate and get panicky and i am afraid i will get hysterical.

i cannot drive myself over at all...i feel a loss of control, a paralysis of sorts and i have that fear i've heard some phobics do where they are afraid if they get near the edge of something high they feel like they are going to throw themselves off ( i also have that sensation)...that i will do the same with the car.

Angela · 08-20-2009, 02:47 PM

Phobias are so easy to eliminate using NLP that the process is known as the 5-minute phobia cure (well, we're not supposed to use the word "cure" because of the AMA and all, but you get the picture).

Aggie, I had a very similar phobia about being in a car near a high drop-off, especially ones with water below (like Big Sur or bridges), and eliminated it by working with an NLP Master Practitioner for -- yes -- about 5 minutes. A week or so later Danger Man and I took a drive near some cliffs and the fear was just *poof* gone.

aggie · 08-20-2009, 02:55 PM

thanks to all so far for the feedback.

i had not been aware of some of these programs and will definitely explore these options.

i guess i just wondered what i was really up against.

i have heard that if you fear something enough, eventually what you fear will kill you!

i imagine the recurring dreams had something to do with the manifestation of the phobia....i guess i just wondered why it has rendered me so powerless against it.

it may sound crazy, but i was worried it was some kind of premonition or destiny....

Angela · 08-20-2009, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aggie

i have heard that if you fear something enough, eventually what you fear will kill you!....i was worried it was some kind of premonition or destiny....

I think it is fairly common for people to lean into their fear so heavily that they attract death or other dire consequences by the very thing they're so actively fearing. And then other people who are leaning into their fear tell each other: "Oh, it was premonition and destiny!"

aggie · 08-20-2009, 03:54 PM

i am not sure that makes me feel better!

Angela · 08-20-2009, 04:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aggie

i am not sure that makes me feel better!

I'm sorry!

My point is that if you CHOOSE to allow your fears to run you, and to think thoughts that support your fear, like "it's my destiny -- look at how often others have "predicted" their death with their fear!", that also means you can CHOOSE to make more conscious choices that lead you towards what you want, and you can choose thoughts that support the results you want.

When you interrupt your habitual fearful thoughts (that's what a phobia is -- a fearful thought program that runs really, really fast in your operating system), you can look back on that old program and laugh from the perspective of being free of it. Now THAT feels good!

You may find yourself laughing (compassionately) at people who insist on keeping their own fearful programs running, keeping themselves in their own jail and throwing away the key, when all they have to do is, like you, just easily and effortlessly open the door and walk out into gentle, warming daylight.

aggie · 08-20-2009, 04:55 PM

oh, i so want to have that feeling!

Angela · 08-20-2009, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aggie

oh, i so want to have that feeling!

Okay, then! Choose it. You are beginning to choose thoughts that support you in feeling good, and letting go of that old problem you used to have.

aggie · 08-20-2009, 05:06 PM

i will!....thanks everyone

Dreamline · 08-20-2009, 10:54 PM

I've also been developing a fear of heights. It's at the point now where I don't think about it, or ponder it in any way, until I am in the situation. I can still laugh about it, find it amusing, play it up when I get that bad feeling. So it's nowhere near even being a phobia yet. But it has progressively gotten worse as I get older.

I would expect that if a phobia was from a past life, it would bother you all your life, not develop as one got older.

Jennifer

aggie · 08-21-2009, 01:34 AM

well, i did start having the recurring dreams as a very young child...at least to the point i can remember....and of course when i was old enough to drive it got stronger, where in childhood it could remain a bit dormant.

but even though i was apprehensive about such things as a child...i did not start to learn to give into the phobia until i got older and it just kind of ebbed and flowed until the point now where it is quite debilitating and restricting.

i believe i have had past lives...i guess i don't know enough about regression therapy, but i am a little bit afraid of what i might find or feel during it.

Mogget · 08-21-2009, 02:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aggie

it is pretty bad even if i am just riding as a passenger with someone else driving...i have to either close my eyes, focus intently on something else or else will start to hyperventilate and get panicky and i am afraid i will get hysterical.

i cannot drive myself over at all...i feel a loss of control, a paralysis of sorts and i have that fear i've heard some phobics do where they are afraid if they get near the edge of something high they feel like they are going to throw themselves off ( i also have that sensation)...that i will do the same with the car.

Ok the symptms you have described I have overcome in myself and others with NLP - a combo of the phobia cure and other work to reinforce that (as the phobia cure works most profoundly when there is one or more major trigger events rather than a slow build). Definitely treatable with NLP.

If you really dig the PLR angle you could find a NLPer willing to include that as part of the phobia cure... just keep tracking back through the timeline till you get to the trigger event in the past life and work with that... as you have a belief in past lives and nostring trigger event in this incranation I suspect your mind would respond well to it. There would be no need to experience that event or other aspects of the past life during the process... imagine it is like watching a movie on rewind... you get the gist and know it is going backwards but the story is scarcely conveyed and certainly not immersive. (incidentally that is a tip off for how the Phobia Cure works...)

aggie · 08-21-2009, 11:38 AM

thanks...i appreciate the explanation.

unfortunately, in movies and tv shows they always portray that plr as terrifying as the person "re lives" the experience.

i wasn't exactly sure what to expect.

Plays With Life · 08-21-2009, 12:24 PM

aggie

Maybe you've already tried it .. EFT might help. I've used it with some particular, less intense situations, and it just cleared things right up. Folks say it can eliminate long-standing, intense fear triggers too. Plus, you can get all the materials to learn it without paying a thing.

aggie · 08-21-2009, 01:24 PM

thank you for the info.

i am so grateful for all of the input and suggestions....

i don't feel so peculiar now....before this forum, i really had no one that could relate and give compassionate suggestions and advice.

Mogget · 08-23-2009, 01:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aggie

thanks...i appreciate the explanation.

unfortunately, in movies and tv shows they always portray that plr as terrifying as the person "re lives" the experience.

i wasn't exactly sure what to expect.

Depends on the type of therapy - classical "insight" therapy, which might involve hypnosis, involves reliving and confronting issues in order to gain insight... can be very unpleasant and not necessarily effective.

Whoever you end up seeing make sure you tell them that you are not interested in reliving the experience, and if they cannot guarantee that you won't have to keep on looking.

You absolutely do NOT have to relive trauma to experience healing changes!

Mogget · 08-23-2009, 01:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plays With Life

aggie

Maybe you've already tried it .. EFT might help. I've used it with some particular, less intense situations, and it just cleared things right up. Folks say it can eliminate long-standing, intense fear triggers too. Plus, you can get all the materials to learn it without paying a thing.

Actually I would second this - try looking up some EFT "how to" videos online - it can be quite effective and is certainly easier and cheaper than finding a good NLPer!

Inspirations · 08-23-2009, 03:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aggie

need advice and help please:

i have developed over my life an intense, serious phobia with heights...especially driving over bridges...the higher the worse it gets and if it is over water it is the absolute ultimate freak out.

it has gotten more debilitating as time has gone on and years have passed. several years back i forced myself to do some things...i understand this is part of some phobia therapy and it worked for a while...but 10 years later it is worse than ever.

when i was a child and adolescent i used to have recurring dreams about going off of or over bridges in a car into the water.

do people just develop phobias...or could this be an indication of something that happened in a past life.

when i get the money, i am seriously considering hypnosis/regression therapy to overcome this...i feel so stupid sometimes...it is so hard to explain to people and have them really understand.

any suggestions would be most welcome and appreciated. thanks.

hi aggie,

Your phobia is related to a past event - as all phobias are.

Something happened, probably what you described (if you feel it), and that memory (like all memories) was stored in your unconscious mind. Every time you think of heights or are put in that position, up pops the emotion of the memory. If you avoid it (the emotion), it combines with your previous similar emotions, and stored. So each time you feel it, it gets stronger as it is an ongoing build up of one emotional event.

Yes there are several options to alleviate the 'symptom' feeling the fear. They are very good at telling yourself to stop feeling it. But none go to the cause of the fear. Or they would say so.

You might have a few weeks, months, or even years silence, until it comes up again, bigger and stronger than ever.

Phobias like heights are some of the easiest things to resolve though - by accessing and resolving their cause - the memory.

Greene's Release is the only process that does this. You can either learn the skill to resolve your phobia through the workbook, or with a "guaranteed result" private session.

Dreamline · 08-23-2009, 04:28 PM

I also support the EFT suggestions. I find it's awesome for phobias.

start at: EFT Home - World Center for EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques)

They have an EXCELLENT email newsletter too.

Jennifer

aggie · 08-23-2009, 04:52 PM

thank you again everyone for the continuing suggestions and info...i had no idea i had so many options and resources!

Mynder · 08-27-2009, 03:28 PM

I'll add another powerful (albeit very hard to actually go through) solution - and I'm not in the least kidding here:

Bungee jumping.

If you get to a point where this fear limits you in your life, and from what you describe, this is already the case, make a firm decision not to let yourself be slave to the fear.

Yes, you will probably shake and maybe even wet your pants, but once you EXPERIENCE the fall and the "catching" and that you are still very much alive (kicking and screaming), maybe this "fascination" with driving off a bridge will lift from you. After all, you've been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

aggie · 08-27-2009, 03:50 PM

oh, i would never think you were kidding because i know some phobia treatmets believe in just tackling it dead on!

except i would have to be tied up, muzzled, and THROWN over...and i am not kidding about that

but thank you, i appreciate all the suggestions and input.

Mynder · 08-27-2009, 04:08 PM

It's all a matter of how far your desperation will carry you.

People will revolve around their fear, get drawn in further and further until it gets so unbearable that ANY change is welcomed. There are lots of ways you can go from that point. Find help, kill yourself (I strongly advise against it

), or right out tackle what you're so terrified of.

Just as the voyage is what brings us happiness, not the arriving, it is the fearing and anticipating that is the worst, not the actual deed of facing it.

Mynder · 08-27-2009, 04:18 PM

On re-reading your original post, I'd like to also suggest a different angle. Visualization.

You had these dreams, and the fear about them still haunts you. I experienced something opposite yet similar.

As a child, I watched a small piece of "Man from Atlantis" when I got out of bed and wanted to ask my parents something. In that particular episode, a pair of aliens, when they touched hands, were able to channel electrical energy through their "outer" hands. In the scene I watched, they smashed a metal chain that way (I didn't write the storybook...). This haunted me for many, many, many nights.

Years later, I saw that episode again, and was able to lay that thing to rest for good.

Since your situation was caused by recurring dreams, you may try "diving into" these dreams again, and imagining being able to breathe under water, or simply being a non-physical observer hovering over the scene, just watching events unfold. Tell yourself to dream these dreams again, and finally learn what you thought you needed to learn from having them as a child. Or visualize the events taking place, and then KEEP TELLING THE STORY from where the dreams left off. That is, visualize some transcendence from dying underwater, or visualize some miracle rescue by human or supernatural means.

Change the way you look at your dream. Whatever method you choose to tackle this, eventually you will have to face yourself and tackle what is at the root of this. Anything else is just glossing over it and having it simmer inside you forever. Get closure...your way. Go with what feels "useful but a little scary".

aggie · 08-27-2009, 04:35 PM

you are right...in much smaller instances in my life, i will resist and resist...until something hits the fan and i am "forced" to deal...

in some weird way i rationalize into believing i have no control and it is going to happen and i am going to end up on the other side either way.

admittedly not the most progressive way to deal with unpleansantries in life....(that would be another thread

)...and that is why i joined this forum

Mynder · 08-27-2009, 10:02 PM

Control...this keeps coming up. And interestingly, except for our own choices, we can't really control *beep*.

Or, to put it in a more easternly way: whatever happens, happens.

From your posts I gather you're somewhat religious, with a very specific understanding of how you define your own christianity. It's a bit strange to find people like you who feel they "trust in God" struggle with fear of death in such a basic and almost trivial manner.

You say you have rationalized you don't have control. Okay, you don't. If it happens, it happens. So, what then? What are you afraid of and why?

And, believing in the concept of free will...aren't you allowed to reject this "predetermined fate" for you and live your life differently?

Do you notice something? Somehow, this elemental fear snuck its way in through the back door and is undermining your faith and beliefs. It doesn't really "fit in" with who you strive to be(come).

So, when next time you enter a bridge, try to reach out to your faith, try to feel how you feel about death and what you may still have doubts about. As always, the answers are inside yourself.

aggie · 08-27-2009, 10:48 PM

if i am understanding where you are coming from...technically christians with faith in God are not supposed to be afraid...so why am i?

i know i shouldn't be, but i never professed to be the perfect christian and so trying to drive over a high bridge over water still scares the s**t out of me

and if i have to go over one whether as a passenger or if i absolutely cannot go another route to avoid it or just don't go there at all....i pray like a son of gun!

i do not make light, obviously this is more complicated and bigger than i care to realize sometimes. and i honestly have faith that i will either find my way to overcome it with some kind of therapy or just one day get the courage to face it head on.

i believe and trust in God...but i still have a serious phobia.

on a scale of one to ten...exactly how dysfunctional does that make me

08-20-2009, 12:55 AM	#1 (permalink)
aggie Family Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 2,235	phobias related to past lives? need advice and help please: i have developed over my life an intense, serious phobia with heights...especially driving over bridges...the higher the worse it gets and if it is over water it is the absolute ultimate freak out. it has gotten more debilitating as time has gone on and years have passed. several years back i forced myself to do some things...i understand this is part of some phobia therapy and it worked for a while...but 10 years later it is worse than ever. when i was a child and adolescent i used to have recurring dreams about going off of or over bridges in a car into the water. do people just develop phobias...or could this be an indication of something that happened in a past life. when i get the money, i am seriously considering hypnosis/regression therapy to overcome this...i feel so stupid sometimes...it is so hard to explain to people and have them really understand. any suggestions would be most welcome and appreciated. thanks.

08-27-2009, 04:35 PM	#28 (permalink)
aggie Family Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 2,235	you are right...in much smaller instances in my life, i will resist and resist...until something hits the fan and i am "forced" to deal... in some weird way i rationalize into believing i have no control and it is going to happen and i am going to end up on the other side either way. admittedly not the most progressive way to deal with unpleansantries in life....(that would be another thread)...and that is why i joined this forum

08-27-2009, 10:48 PM	#30 (permalink)
aggie Family Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 2,235	if i am understanding where you are coming from...technically christians with faith in God are not supposed to be afraid...so why am i? i know i shouldn't be, but i never professed to be the perfect christian and so trying to drive over a high bridge over water still scares the s*t out of me and if i have to go over one whether as a passenger or if i absolutely cannot go another route to avoid it or just don't go there at all....i pray like a son of gun! i do not make light, obviously this is more complicated and bigger than i care to realize sometimes. and i honestly have faith that i will either find my way to overcome it with some kind of therapy or just one day get the courage to face it head on. i believe and trust in God...but i still have a serious phobia. on a scale of one to ten...exactly how dysfunctional does that make me Last edited by aggie; 08-27-2009 at 10:51 PM.*

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08-20-2009, 03:46 AM	#2 (permalink)
codenamesmiley Family Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 1,639	Hi Aggie, I think that you would definitely benefit from past life regression therapy. I'm sorry you have fear. I hope you find peace with it. Blessings, Rebecca

08-20-2009, 06:33 AM	#3 (permalink)
Mogget Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Melbourne Australia Posts: 184	Can I ask how severe the phobia is? Is it an intense horrible fear or a total hysterical paralysis? Is crossing a bridge difficult or impossible? I ask because a phobia is different to an intense fear and they can be approached differently in terms of treatment. I used to have an intense horrible fear (but not actually a phobia) of crossing bridges myself (and I am still not crazy about them!) but I can do it if I need to. On the other hand ny brother has a genuine phobia of spiders and when he sees one he throws up then passes out. Now that is a phobic response! Past life regression is a useful metaphor for healing whether or not you Believe in past lives, so you may find it useful... personally I would be wither working with NLP if it is a genuine phobia, or with a combo of RET, anchoring and submodality work if it is an intense fear as I have seen and used these to great effect in clients with intense fears.

08-20-2009, 02:40 PM	#4 (permalink)
aggie Family Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 2,235	it is pretty bad even if i am just riding as a passenger with someone else driving...i have to either close my eyes, focus intently on something else or else will start to hyperventilate and get panicky and i am afraid i will get hysterical. i cannot drive myself over at all...i feel a loss of control, a paralysis of sorts and i have that fear i've heard some phobics do where they are afraid if they get near the edge of something high they feel like they are going to throw themselves off ( i also have that sensation)...that i will do the same with the car.

08-20-2009, 02:47 PM	#5 (permalink)
Angela Banned Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 22,520	Phobias are so easy to eliminate using NLP that the process is known as the 5-minute phobia cure (well, we're not supposed to use the word "cure" because of the AMA and all, but you get the picture). Aggie, I had a very similar phobia about being in a car near a high drop-off, especially ones with water below (like Big Sur or bridges), and eliminated it by working with an NLP Master Practitioner for -- yes -- about 5 minutes. A week or so later Danger Man and I took a drive near some cliffs and the fear was just poof gone.

08-20-2009, 02:55 PM	#6 (permalink)
aggie Family Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 2,235	thanks to all so far for the feedback. i had not been aware of some of these programs and will definitely explore these options. i guess i just wondered what i was really up against. i have heard that if you fear something enough, eventually what you fear will kill you! i imagine the recurring dreams had something to do with the manifestation of the phobia....i guess i just wondered why it has rendered me so powerless against it. it may sound crazy, but i was worried it was some kind of premonition or destiny....

08-20-2009, 03:54 PM	#8 (permalink)
aggie Family Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 2,235	i am not sure that makes me feel better!

08-20-2009, 04:55 PM	#10 (permalink)
aggie Family Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 2,235	oh, i so want to have that feeling!

08-20-2009, 05:06 PM	#12 (permalink)
aggie Family Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 2,235	i will!....thanks everyone

08-20-2009, 10:54 PM	#13 (permalink)
Dreamline Banned Join Date: May 2009 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 989	I've also been developing a fear of heights. It's at the point now where I don't think about it, or ponder it in any way, until I am in the situation. I can still laugh about it, find it amusing, play it up when I get that bad feeling. So it's nowhere near even being a phobia yet. But it has progressively gotten worse as I get older. I would expect that if a phobia was from a past life, it would bother you all your life, not develop as one got older. Jennifer

08-21-2009, 01:34 AM	#14 (permalink)
aggie Family Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 2,235	well, i did start having the recurring dreams as a very young child...at least to the point i can remember....and of course when i was old enough to drive it got stronger, where in childhood it could remain a bit dormant. but even though i was apprehensive about such things as a child...i did not start to learn to give into the phobia until i got older and it just kind of ebbed and flowed until the point now where it is quite debilitating and restricting. i believe i have had past lives...i guess i don't know enough about regression therapy, but i am a little bit afraid of what i might find or feel during it.

08-21-2009, 11:38 AM	#16 (permalink)
aggie Family Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 2,235	thanks...i appreciate the explanation. unfortunately, in movies and tv shows they always portray that plr as terrifying as the person "re lives" the experience. i wasn't exactly sure what to expect.

08-21-2009, 12:24 PM	#17 (permalink)
Plays With Life Family Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Sitting by the fire at the Inn of the Last Home Posts: 5,799	aggie Maybe you've already tried it .. EFT might help. I've used it with some particular, less intense situations, and it just cleared things right up. Folks say it can eliminate long-standing, intense fear triggers too. Plus, you can get all the materials to learn it without paying a thing.

08-21-2009, 01:24 PM	#18 (permalink)
aggie Family Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 2,235	thank you for the info. i am so grateful for all of the input and suggestions.... i don't feel so peculiar now....before this forum, i really had no one that could relate and give compassionate suggestions and advice.

08-23-2009, 04:28 PM	#22 (permalink)
Dreamline Banned Join Date: May 2009 Location: Raleigh, NC Posts: 989	I also support the EFT suggestions. I find it's awesome for phobias. start at: EFT Home - World Center for EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) They have an EXCELLENT email newsletter too. Jennifer

08-23-2009, 04:52 PM	#23 (permalink)
aggie Family Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 2,235	thank you again everyone for the continuing suggestions and info...i had no idea i had so many options and resources!

08-27-2009, 03:28 PM	#24 (permalink)
Mynder Family Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Northern Germany Posts: 2,659	I'll add another powerful (albeit very hard to actually go through) solution - and I'm not in the least kidding here: Bungee jumping. If you get to a point where this fear limits you in your life, and from what you describe, this is already the case, make a firm decision not to let yourself be slave to the fear. Yes, you will probably shake and maybe even wet your pants, but once you EXPERIENCE the fall and the "catching" and that you are still very much alive (kicking and screaming), maybe this "fascination" with driving off a bridge will lift from you. After all, you've been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

08-27-2009, 03:50 PM	#25 (permalink)
aggie Family Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 2,235	oh, i would never think you were kidding because i know some phobia treatmets believe in just tackling it dead on! except i would have to be tied up, muzzled, and THROWN over...and i am not kidding about that but thank you, i appreciate all the suggestions and input.

08-27-2009, 04:08 PM	#26 (permalink)
Mynder Family Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Northern Germany Posts: 2,659	It's all a matter of how far your desperation will carry you. People will revolve around their fear, get drawn in further and further until it gets so unbearable that ANY change is welcomed. There are lots of ways you can go from that point. Find help, kill yourself (I strongly advise against it ), or right out tackle what you're so terrified of. Just as the voyage is what brings us happiness, not the arriving, it is the fearing and anticipating that is the worst, not the actual deed of facing it.

08-27-2009, 04:18 PM	#27 (permalink)
Mynder Family Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Northern Germany Posts: 2,659	On re-reading your original post, I'd like to also suggest a different angle. Visualization. You had these dreams, and the fear about them still haunts you. I experienced something opposite yet similar. As a child, I watched a small piece of "Man from Atlantis" when I got out of bed and wanted to ask my parents something. In that particular episode, a pair of aliens, when they touched hands, were able to channel electrical energy through their "outer" hands. In the scene I watched, they smashed a metal chain that way (I didn't write the storybook...). This haunted me for many, many, many nights. Years later, I saw that episode again, and was able to lay that thing to rest for good. Since your situation was caused by recurring dreams, you may try "diving into" these dreams again, and imagining being able to breathe under water, or simply being a non-physical observer hovering over the scene, just watching events unfold. Tell yourself to dream these dreams again, and finally learn what you thought you needed to learn from having them as a child. Or visualize the events taking place, and then KEEP TELLING THE STORY from where the dreams left off. That is, visualize some transcendence from dying underwater, or visualize some miracle rescue by human or supernatural means. Change the way you look at your dream. Whatever method you choose to tackle this, eventually you will have to face yourself and tackle what is at the root of this. Anything else is just glossing over it and having it simmer inside you forever. Get closure...your way. Go with what feels "useful but a little scary".

08-27-2009, 10:02 PM	#29 (permalink)
Mynder Family Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Northern Germany Posts: 2,659	Control...this keeps coming up. And interestingly, except for our own choices, we can't really control beep. Or, to put it in a more easternly way: whatever happens, happens. From your posts I gather you're somewhat religious, with a very specific understanding of how you define your own christianity. It's a bit strange to find people like you who feel they "trust in God" struggle with fear of death in such a basic and almost trivial manner. You say you have rationalized you don't have control. Okay, you don't. If it happens, it happens. So, what then? What are you afraid of and why? And, believing in the concept of free will...aren't you allowed to reject this "predetermined fate" for you and live your life differently? Do you notice something? Somehow, this elemental fear snuck its way in through the back door and is undermining your faith and beliefs. It doesn't really "fit in" with who you strive to be(come). So, when next time you enter a bridge, try to reach out to your faith, try to feel how you feel about death and what you may still have doubts about. As always, the answers are inside yourself.

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