Healing FEAR and Anxiety Through EA Fellowship

Healing FEAR and Anxiety Through EA Fellowship
Hi, my name is Rosemary and I’m powerless over my emotions.
The topic of this talk is “Healing FEAR and Anxiety Through EAFellowship”.
I began attending attending Emotions Anonymous 29 years ago atRenaissance Unity Church located in Warren, MI at the age of 21. Like
most, or I can safely assume, ALL of you listening, I deal with emotional
problems with the issues of FEAR and anxiety being paramount in mycase.
I am going to be reading from a prepared outline. A handout of this talkwill be available in PDF format afterwards. You can request the handout at
eatelephoneconference@gmail.com
So, what is the definition of fear?
The dictionary defines fear as both a noun (a person, place or thing) AND averb (a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence).
As a NOUN, fear is:(1) an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone orsomething is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.
(2) a feeling of anxiety concerning the outcome of something or the safety
and well-being of someone.
(3) the likelihood of something unwelcome happening.
(4) a mixed feeling of dread and reverence.
As a VERB, fear is described as:(1) to be afraid of (someone or something) as likely to be dangerous,
painful, or threatening.
(2) to feel anxiety or apprehension on behalf of.
(3) to avoid or put oﬀ doing something because one is afraid.
(4) used to express regret or apology.

(5) regard with reverence and awe.
Fear is an Old English word. Its earliest meaning, in the (seven hundreds)700s, was "danger or peril." It was NOT used for the FEELING of fear untilthe (thirteen hundreds) 1300s.
Often when we hear the word FEAR, it is preceded by the word
IRRATIONAL. The root word PHOBIA comes from the Greek word Phobos
which means IRRATIONAL FEAR. As most all of us are aware, there are
innumerable words with the suﬃx — PHOBIA. The list is endless.
If you have a fear, I can say with all likelihood that you NOT ALONE in thatfear and there is most likely some Greek — or some other strange orexotic sounding word — ending in the word PHOBIA. If you can’t find theword for your fear, make one up! — no one will no the diﬀerence as longas you use the suﬃx PHOBIA!
Almost everyone has an irrational fear or two — of snakes (which are all
poisonous) for example ... or your annual dental checkup. For mostpeople, these fears are minor. But when fears become so severe that theycause tremendous anxiety and interfere with your normal life, they’re calledphobias.
A phobia is an intense fear of something that, in reality, poses little or noactual danger. Common phobias and fears include closed-in places,heights, highway driving, flying insects, spiders, and needles. However, youcan develop phobias of virtually anything. While most phobias develop inchildhood, they can also develop in later life.
If you have a phobia, you probably realize that your fear is irrational, yet
you still can’t control your feelings. Just thinking about the feared object orsituation may make you anxious. And when you’re actually exposed to thething you fear, the terror is automatic and overwhelming. The experience isso nerve-wracking that you may go to great lengths to avoid it—inconveniencing yourself or even changing your lifestyle. If you haveclaustrophobia, for example, you might turn down a lucrative job offer if you
have to ride the elevator to get to the office. If you have a fear of heights,
you might drive an extra 20 miles in order to avoid a tall bridge.

Now that we know the dictionary definition and etymology of fear andhave an idea of where the words anxiety, irrational and phobia fit into thispuzzle, WHAT IS FEAR? Often we have hear the terms fight or flight (orsometimes the similar word: flee). Have some of you also heard FightFlight-Freeze? — F cubed, F to the third power or F3.

QuotesFIGHT: “What you resist persists. What you face dissipates” and “Feelthe fear and do it anyways”.
FLIGHT/FLEE: “Flee an enemy who knows your weakness”. — Pierre
Cornielle, a French dramatist.
FREEZE: “Fear is the paralyzing emotion that inhibits or restricts normal
feelings of love, confidence, and well-being”. — Tim LaHaye, author andspeaker.
The Fight-Flight-Freeze response is the body’s automatic, built-in systemdesigned to protect us from threat or danger. For example, when you hear
the words, “look out!” you may be surprised to find how fast you move,and thankfully so, as you narrowly miss an errant frisbee being thrown at
the beach. Or when you see a bear on the trail up ahead, you stop andremain quiet and still until it moves on. In both scenarios your systemdemonstrates its eﬀectiveness at protecting you from danger.
The Fight-Flight-Freeze system is critical to our survival from true threat ordanger, but what happens when there is no real danger? Interestingly,
anxiety can also trigger this system into action when we believe there isthreat or danger even if there is not. For example, you may yell at yourfriend Greta for pushing you into agreeing to speak at a phone conference
when you don’t feel ready (fight). Or you avoid going to a party or leave
early because you don’t feel comfortable around unfamiliar people (flight).
Or, your mind goes blank when your boss asks you a question (freeze). Allof these are examples that can cause anxiety, which in turn, canmistakenly trigger the F3 alarm. Public speaking, parties, and answering
questions are not dangerous situations, but if your alarm system is set to“high alert” it will go oﬀ, even in relatively harmless situations.
These are some of the common physiological changes your body canmake to protect you from danger:

Head
When you breathe too fast or too deep, you may feel a little lightheaded.
This is called hyperventilating. Don’t worry. It’s not dangerous! Your bodyis just trying to get more oxygen and blood to your large muscles so you
can fight, run, or hold still.

Eyes
When you are confronted with danger, your pupils get bigger to let in more
light so you can better spot the danger. This can make things seembrighter or fuzzier, and you may even see some black spots or other visualeﬀects.

Fingers
When you are faced with danger, blood from your fingers starts to movetowards bigger muscles, like your biceps. These bigger muscles needenergy to help you fight or run. Your fingers may feel numb, cold, or tinglyas blood moves away from them.

Arm Muscles
When faced with danger, your body tenses up, so you are ready to spring
into action. The muscles in your arms tense up so you can strike out atdanger, pull yourself away, or hold still.

Sweat GlandsYour body works hard to help you get ready for danger. It takes a lot ofenergy, which can cause your body to heat up. Sweat from yourunderarms, palms, or forehead cools down your body.

HeartWhen your body is preparing itself for action, it makes sure blood andoxygen is pumped to major muscles like your biceps or thighs. This gives
you energy and power to strike out at danger or to run away as fast as youcan.

StomachWhen your body thinks you are in danger, it puts all its resources into
protecting you. Other systems in your body (like your digestive system)
slow down, because your body thinks giving you energy to deal with thedanger is more important than digesting that sandwich you had for lunch.
Of course, this means you might get an upset or sore stomach from thatsandwich sitting in stomach acid while it waits to be digested once thedanger passes.

Thigh Muscles
When faced with danger, your body tenses up, so you are ready to spring
into action. The muscles in your legs tense up so you can run away, fightback by kicking, or hold still.
There are some common misconceptions about anxiety and I am going togive you a lecture called —Anxiety 101: What You Need to Know About Anxiety
Anxiety is normal.
Everyone experiences anxiety from time to time. Anxiety can be helpful as
it serves to alert us to potential threats, protect us from danger and help us
reach important goals. For example, it’s normal to feel anxious when
encountering a bear on a hike or while giving a talk entitled “Healing FEAR
and Anxiety Through EA Fellowship” .

Anxiety is not dangerous.
Although anxiety feels uncomfortable, it is temporary and will eventually
decrease. The sensations we experience when anxious are designed toalert us to potential danger or threat and to help us get ready to protect
ourselves. These sensations are normal and part of our body’s natural
response mechanism that help us “amp up” when faced with danger and to“calm down” when the threat has passed.

Anxiety is adaptive.
Anxiety helps us cope with real danger, such as crossing a busy street orexiting a burning building, by helping us stay alert and take action. It canalso help us perform at our best, by motivating us to study for an exam or
prepare for an interview. When we experience anxiety, it triggers our flightflight-freeze response, and prepares our body to react. For instance, ourheart beats faster to pump blood to our muscles, so we have the energy to
run away or fight off danger. We need some anxiety. Without it, we would
not survive.

Anxiety can become a problem.
Some anxiety in certain situations is normal and useful. However, if you are
constantly feeling anxious or worried, and avoiding daily activities, school,work, or socializing because you’re too scared, anxiety has become aproblem. Think of anxiety like fog: if it covers everything, makes it hard tosee, stops you from doing what you usually do, and generally gets in theway, then it has likely become a problem. In small amounts we canmaneuver through the fog and get to our destination, but when the fog is sothick we are “grounded” ... and its time to take action!

Anxiety can be alleviated.
There are many activities and techniques that we can try to make anxiety
less serve. We have all heard and probably tried various suggestions, butsometimes we forget and need to be reminded. These actions can include:
attending EA meetings both face-to-face and via the phone
exercise or yoga
listening to musicreading
taking a shower or bathgetting enough sleep
eating healthy
meditation (knowing that you are safe and triggering a relaxationresponse)
mindfulness (learning to be in the present moment and not trapped inyour thoughts and feelings — or more simply learning to accept and “letgo
share with others, spend time with friends and most importantly—laugh!
... basically any HEALING activity that is done towards caring for yourself
mentally, physically AND spiritually.
The last part of Anxiety 101 is that,Anxiety is part of life.
Trying to eliminate anxiety from our lives is almost impossible, and EVENIF IT WERE possible, we need it for survival and our lives might become
TOO restrictive and boring.
Alas, fears, phobias and anxiety are NOT curable! However, through myyears in the Emotions Anonymous 12-Step program, I have found that theEA Fellowship provides me with the information, tools, resources, andcamaraderie for me to become an expert on coping. Since fear iseverywhere, one of the greatest gifts I can give myself is the confidence
AND skill to tolerate anxiety whenever it occurs ... and to continue living mylife anyway!

I would like to finish my time with you today with a spiritual reading. #4 inthe Just for Today section from EA’s Yellow Pamphlet states: “Just fortoday, I will take care of my physical health; I will exercise my mind, I will
read something spiritual”. Most every day, that means I read the dailyreflection from Emotions Anonymous’ Today book which is available
through the Service Center for $20 plus nominal shipping and handlingcharges. If you don’t currently own this wonderful daily meditation book, I
highly suggest you purchase it. Having seen many other daily meditation
books centered around the 12 steps, I am not biased in saying it truly is
THE most well written of the lot. That being said, I am instead reading fromthe daily meditation book Each Day a New Beginning:https://e2.hazeldenbettyford.org/shared/webmail/220262/248593163/1e36e02460543a372d7b3cfc58e0274562a8933f4998
1b8e56b3eaab27a8be41#.XaqywurNsEE.facebook