Overcoming the Fear of Flying
You can do this…
I always tell my readers to consider the difference between the thought of IF, versus What IS.
It is subtle, but worth considering.
I can assure you that there is no reason for you to be anything, but confident on your next flight.
I also know how easy it is to say that, versus the facts of reality.
So, please do not be offended, but go with me, on this metaphoric journey, to see for yourself, that you can overcome all of this, and do very well, and enjoy flight, interstate, or global.
Flying
This entry is all about the fear of flying, and more specifically, overcoming it.
It is an important issue, as more and more people are required to fly, in our opening global economy, not to mention the benefits of seeing a whole new, and bigger world out there…
In 1985, the SOAR Course on audio cassette tapes for people unable to attend an airport course was started.
Naturally, this is a great benefit for all the people on the run today, and those who like to use their iPod players, and so on, as we are all cramming so much more into our days…
One client who completed the Soar course told Captain Tim the most important thing she learned was to focus on “what is” rather than “what if”.
Millions who fly suffer great anxiety thinking “what if”. Yet, only one person in several million ever suffers from “what is” due to an accident.
Fear of flying has always been a battle to stay in touch with reality. Trouble starts when what a person imagines “what if”. It triggers stress hormone release. If several “what ifs” are imagined, stress hormones accumulate. Normally, what psychologists call “reflective function” – the mind’s quality control capacity – monitors thought processes, looks for errors, and corrects them. But if there are too many “what ifs”, the accumulation of stress hormone causes reflective function to stop operating. When it stops, the ability is lost to distinguish what is real from what is imaginary. What the person fears will happen is experienced as really happening. Terror results.
How do we help fearful fliers avoid that? We list the “what ifs” and train the mind not to release stress hormones when those come to mind during the flight.
By the way. Why did we stop doing courses at the airports? Our research showed that people who completed the SOAR Course on audio cassettes and the one-to-one counseling by phone got far better results than people who attended an airport course. There are several reasons for this:
1. Anxiety about the “graduation flight” made it difficult to focus on course information.
2. Course length did not permit enough repetition to make learning permanent.
3. On the “graduation flight” participants depended on the group and the instructor for emotional support instead of learning to rely on themselves.
2. Course length did not permit enough repetition to make learning permanent.
3. On the “graduation flight” participants depended on the group and the instructor for emotional support instead of learning to rely on themselves.
4. Attention to individual needs was limited.
In 2005, the audio course was replaced with the SOAR Video Course on DVD. This course included the newly developed methods to train the mind not to react to “what if”.
You are now being limited only by your own actions.
I suggest you take action, and conquer your fear, once and for all.
