Glossophobia or speech anxiety is the fear of public speaking or of speaking in general
There is a long held belief that the fear of public speaking
is built on negative experiences from school years; maybe a teacher called you
out in from of the class, maybe sports day, maybe school assembly or something
similar. The belief is that patterns of belief are built and in an effort to
avoid perceived danger situations the unconscious mind fires off an anxiety response
(fight-or-flight). We can look at the function of amygdalae the
in this process but I leave that to your research.
Anxiety is not a
negative state, it has no negative intention, it has a purpose and that purpose
is heightened response readiness. In fact if you consider the word itself, is
it being used as a verb or noun? Often the problem is its being used as a noun
(Naming word) where people say “I am anxious”
rather than a verb where anxiety is the doing word “I don’t know about you, but
I know I’m anxious to
understand this process more so that it can be used in helpful ways”.
The fear of performing in public is built on a ‘snapshot
mind-made movie’ of failure and or embarrassment. The amydala acts as if this
snapshot is real and creates a fear avoidance response. But here is the amazing
thing, its not real its only imagination; even if you had previously not succeeded
in the way you had hoped that is still no proof you may not succeed in the
future. So now if you consider you thinking (imagining) something might happen
in a certain way is enough for your brain to respond as though it is real, how
cool would it be if you can retrain it to image more useful outcomes? Hey, its
your brain, you can use it however you want to.
Try this…. Image yourself some time into the future, just after
the situation you had previously feared. But this time imagine that everything
had gone well, that you learned from the situation, and people congratulated you..
experience this new sensation as if it is real with all 5 senses and feel the
smile spread not just across your face but all through you body. Keeping that sensation
with you, come back to the here and now looking forward at how much easier it
appears to you… How much nicer is that experience?
You can practice this over and over enough times to the
point where you can just do it now, easily and gain even more confidence to
change is new and exciting ways now and into the future.
Maybe your first public speaking/presentation will be where
you become so interested in sharing your newfound confidence that you can’t
help yourself but want to stand up now and tell everyone willing to here.
Let me know how different you feel. I am looking forward to
hearing from you if you want to have even more influence over yourself and
others
Mark.peters@balancedapproach.co.uk
Mob/whatsapp:
+44 (0)7831 743737
Web: https://www.balancedapproach.co.uk
Mark Peters
is one of a small number of people who have earned the title of Master Trainer
for the Society of NLP. As of November 2023, he is an owner of the Society of
NLP.
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