Case Study : Sujata, thou not afraid of atom bombs explosion, somehow finds hard to cope up with cockroaches. Her dilemma:
Chota cockroach, Mota Coackroach,
Flying c’roach, down earth cockraoch,
Brownish-red or reddish brown,
Any damn colored cockroach….
Cockroach cockroach cockroach cockroach…
E e e e e e e e ………….
Yuck yuck Yuck yuck Yuck yuck Yuck yuck ….
In short, she’s as unimpressed by those creatures as u r by this amateurish attempt of poetry.
Wat to do?
- Ask for help - it can be anyone – hubby/ bro/father, someone who’s comfortable with cockroaches.(Any one f u), Jus take a cockroach in ur hand n convince her that it is just one ‘jantu’
out of the ‘chauraasi lakh yoni’(8.4 million species). Tell her - Look it has legs, u have them too, it has wings to fly. Ok, u don’t have them, but then many species do have them so nothing special about those wings, isn’t it? Now may b, she is afraid of the looks( I Know that two antennae kin f things doesn’t look good) . But then read some books, u will fin a scientific reason for those horns too, that might help u convincing they r not there to bite u or do any other harm, but for their own good sake…
Just try to observe the things rationally, and soon u gona realize, that things r not that scary. Ask urselve, what is that u don’t like about things, wats so fiery abt them? Then try to analyze if the thing really that fiery or its just ur interpretation that makes it so. Most of the time, it’s the later case. We hardly look at things in a practical way, and fantacize all negative aspects of it, n thus end up developing a skeptical tendency abt it, which is easily avoidable.
Look around, there r ppl who r doing the same things comfortably, ask they help, for there opinion, may b they too found it tough to start with it . By nature, ppl have a skeptic tendency for attempting nething new, its natural, so nothing to be ashamed of.
After u have had a opinion that’s worth to start of, try to get close to cockroaches, jus say a nice hello to them, I m sure they wont reply, but then they wont bite u either, then after sometime, u can get a bit more friendly to them. Tell all those things that ur ‘bie’ told abt Mrs. Sharma today, if they like it ok, if they don’t, they’ll leave, u r thru neways…! And If u want to go further, try to lift one of those cute worm in your hand. If u don’t wanna go direct, . try to lift them with a piece of paper( I ve cn ppl doing that), n trust me, those brownish red creature, hardly cares abt those f ur gestures…
- Hypnotism: This is y et another way of therapy, which is often used as a therapy to decrease effect of fear(majorly past traumatic experiences like a severe accident, someone’s death etc.). What is done here is the subject is taken into a trance state, which is like half awake state( into the subconscious mind) .
The concept goes that there is a subconscious mind behind the conscious one. Look at dreams; however illogical may they may sound, but, we always believe in them. That is because, when we fall asleep, our conscious mind takes a backseat and subconscious mind starts functioning. This mind witnesses, it doesn’t discreets, it just accepts whatever it is instructed. A man suddenly becomes a banana but we believe in it, don’t doubt during its in progress(u wake up then realize that’s another thing).
So the concept is taking the subject matter to the trance state and giving him some instructions. For example, say, ‘look cockroaches r just like any other worms, unharmful, u need not to b afraid of them, just understand that they have not harmed anyone and so they will not harm u…’
I ve tried hypnotizing a couple of my closed friends and have been decently successful too. The most imp thing here, us the subject should believe in u and the theory, or else it will hardly have any effect.
The most common way of hypnotism is ‘self hypnotism’. What u have to do here is continuously repeating something, which u want to get. The best time is jus before going to sleep and just after waking up. Repeat that cockroaches r friendly, unharmful, they have not harmed anyone, I don’t have to be afraid of them. Make it a habit, do it sincerely and u will notice a change, depending on how sincerely u do it….
Wat I m trying to say is that a problem needs to be analyzed rather then ignored. If its really worrying u n its going serious, one better finds a way out of it, then thinking in that limited vicious loops of ‘What if, no no, I wont’ etc …
Also, Its not wat kind of way u choose, that depends on person n the remedies n approaches too varies, accordingly. Ultimately, wat counts is how far have been those things helpful to u…
Also, I have cn that homely n introvert ppl worry more than outgoing n extroverts, its always good to get some regular physical workouts, a morning walk, playing some sport, any type f sweat out activity, r always helpful.
Last but not the least, its always gud to look the lighter side of dark things. Even if u r riting on fear, u can afford to crack a joke or two. At the end of the day, its all ur attitude that matters. Theory is just to prepare u for the jump, once u dive out of the spaceship, trust me, u wont ask anyone what to do after that ……
Does that help in anyways or still, Fati Parellee hai kya Maamu?