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Calling Fear's Bluff - Hypnosis to Expand the Comfort Zone · The Hypnotist

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Welcome to The Hypnotist, the show that gives you inside
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access to cutting edge hypnosis with real clients facing
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genuine. Issues.
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Brought to you by The Hypnotherapist, demanded by
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celebrities, CEOs and even royalty, Adam Cox.
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These recordings took place live from Evans Clinic in London's
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world famous Harley Street. So get yourself comfortable and
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enjoy today's episode of The Hypnotist.
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Hi, it's Adam here and this is a hypnosis session all about
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calling fears bluff and there are some fears which are
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credible and true and useful. So if I got afraid at the idea
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of flying a helicopter all by myself with no training, that's
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a very good, useful fear. Or if I had fear at the idea of
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jumping into a bear enclosure in a zoo, that's probably a good
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fear. But there are lots of fears
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which are unfounded. There are lots of fears where
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you can think of fear as the acronym false evidence that
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appears real that nothing bad would happen, but you still feel
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that anxiety anyway. And those kind of fears, the
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best way to handle them is to get yourself in a high
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resourceful state and to do the thing that you would be afraid
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to do. Now, the problem with that is
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that it requires courage and bravery.
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But why are courage and bravery, bravery so highly regarded in
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our culture and society? It's because they're difficult.
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But by being brave, by being courageous, it means that you
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face the very thing that you're afraid of.
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And in doing so, most of the time, the fear disappears, your
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comfort zone expands, and the possibilities within your life
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also expand. And I've shared this story
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before and I, I talk about it at the beginning of a webinar that
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I've recently recorded. And that's available in the
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links, by the way, as to how I started being a therapist.
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And I started not by trying to be a therapist to other people,
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but trying to fix myself. Because I had.
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Severe social anxiety and I started avoiding more and more
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people until I became a recluse and I went to a library late at
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night to try and find a solution for me.
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And when I started doing the things that I was avoiding, that
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actually my confidence grew and it grew way beyond where it
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originally started because I started facing the fear and
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calling the bluff of fear rather than believing that the fear was
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real. So if any of these things
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resonate with you, I think you'll get some value from this
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session. But to really get value, I would
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encourage you to think about what are your biggest fears, not
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the credible fears, but the fears that are haunting you and
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they're not really real things, that nothing really bad could
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happen. It might be the disapproval of
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other people or rejection or something like that, where
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actually if you just did it in an audacious, confident,
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courageous way, actually you would go beyond the fear and
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that just wouldn't bother you anymore.
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And I'll share this with you because I, I now do a podcast
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daily. I'm regularly on conferences and
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things like that. But I remember the very first
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time I was on radio and I, I called in to win a prize on my
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local radio station. And it was a small radio
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station. And I got so nervous at the idea
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of just being on radio and that there was other people
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listening. And it was at 6:00 in the
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morning before my paper and like nobody was listening anyway.
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And I got so, so nervous. And now I broadcast to thousands
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of people every single day. It doesn't bother me at all.
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So when you face the fear, the fear disappears a lot of the
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time. So I'd encourage you to think
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about your fears. What would calling the bluff of
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that fear feel like and be like? And then you'll get some more
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value from this session. And if you like the idea of
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checking out that website where I talk about sorry, the webinar
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where I talk about working with me and and why I'm a therapist
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to begin with, have a look in the description for that.
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And there's lots of other resources there as well.
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Completely free. For now though.
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Find a quiet, comfortable place where you won't be distracted or
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disturbed. Relax and enjoy the session.
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Take a deep breath in, and as you breathe in, breathe in that
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wonderful feeling of calm and relaxation.
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And as you exhale, give permission to release any
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emotions, any sensations, any feelings that aren't useful for
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you right now. Tension isn't needed.
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Stress isn't needed, so just allow anything unuseful to feel
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like it's melting away and leaving your body in your
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outward breath. And when you breathe in, breathe
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in deeper than you normally would.
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And as you exhale, just allow that outward breath to elongate,
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to keep on going and going maybe twice as long as a normal
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outward breath. And each breath allows you to
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drift deeper and deeper, and with your eyes closed, notice
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how much easier it is to focus on the sound of my words, the
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rhythm of my voice. And I wonder if you can notice
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how the world outside can simply wait.
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Because this time this space belongs entirely to you, and you
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might become aware of the weight of your body, the places where
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you are supported, the chair or surface holding you, doing all
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the work so you don't have to. And with each breath, without
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forcing anything, just allowing, you can feel something beginning
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to settle, like a snow globe that's been shaken and is now
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settling into stillness. Your unconscious mind is always
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listening, always learning, and it already knows so much more
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than your conscious mind gives it credit for.
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And that's perfectly fine. And I wonder if you could
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imagine a trail, a road or a pathway, your pathway stretching
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out before you, perhaps through a forest or nature, with the
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light filters through the leaves in that particular way that it
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does, where every step takes you somewhere quieter, somewhere
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more you. And as you walk, you might
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notice but the sounds around you have a quality of distance now
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that the mind's usual chatter becoming like birdsong in the
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far trees, present but peaceful and not requiring your attention
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at all. Take steps there on the path
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through the forest. 10 steps deeper, 9 and then eight.
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Each step double s your relaxation. 765, the ground
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beneath. Feel solid, real.
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You are safe. 432 and 1, and maybe there's a clearing in the
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forest. And here you are in this place
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of deep knowing where your unconscious mind can receive and
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where something important is already beginning to shift.
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And there is a story, a very old story, that every human lives
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out without perhaps realizing it.
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And your unconscious mind knows this story well.
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Once there was a person who lived in a world that felt just
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manageable. A world with edges.
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Edges that felt safe, edges that felt known.
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And within those edges, life was predictable.
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It had its rhythms, its routines, its familiar shapes.
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And sometimes, in certain situations, when the world felt
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too large or too watchful, the sensation would arrive, a
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tightening, A quickening, something the mind called
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danger, even when there was no danger at all.
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And for a long time, the instinct was to step back from
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that edge, to find safety in the smaller space.
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The mind learns early that if you avoid the thing that
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frightens you, that horrible feeling goes away.
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But here's what your unconscious already suspects, or perhaps
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already certain of. Avoidance doesn't shrink the
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fear, it feeds it. It enlarges it.
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It is a room that grows with the darkness you feed it, and
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shrinks very naturally when light or action is brought in.
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And now something has shifted, hasn't it?
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Because you already know this. At some level, you've already
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begun to answer a call. A call that comes not from
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outside, but from somewhere deeper than thought.
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And that call sounds like this. What if the very thing I've been
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avoiding is the thing that will set me free?
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Your body, in its wisdom, has been preparing you all along.
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That quickening you feel before a challenge, those sensations
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you once called anxiety, is the body summoning its resources,
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calling in its reserves, getting ready.
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An athlete before a race, an actor there on the edge of the
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stage, the speaker before hundreds of people.
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They all feel it. That aliveness, that readiness,
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the body saying I know this matters, I am here and nothing
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will deter me. And what if from this moment you
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could meet that sensation not with resistance, but with
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recognition? Ah, there you are.
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I know what you are. You are my preparation.
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You are the edge of my comfort zone.
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You or my body getting ready to be brilliant.
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FEAR, fear. False evidence that appears
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real. There's something important to
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understand about this guardian at the gate, this sensation that
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stands on the border of your edges of your comfort zone.
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Imagine for a moment, you are walking through a dark room, and
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in the shadows something looms. Something large, something that
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feels threatening. The minds is danger.
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The body braces. Then you reach out.
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You find the light switch and what you thought was a monster
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or a villain is a coat on a chair.
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What was scary, enormous, dangerous, is ordinary.
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What felt real was simply false evidence appearing real FEAR.
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False evidence appearing real fear is not always a signal of
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danger. It's a signal of significance.
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It's the psyche saying this matters.
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Pay attention, you are about to grow.
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I want you to picture a child that was so afraid you helped
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them cross that threshold of fear into something they could
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do. What you did for them, you can
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do for yourself. You already know how because you
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showed someone else the way. Darkness only needs one thing to
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dissolve. Light and action is light.
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Movement is light. The simple decision to take one
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step toward The thing is light. In the old stories, the hero is
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always tested, not once, but repeatedly.
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And each test is not a punishment.
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It's a gift in disguise, an opportunity to discover what
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they truly are made of. And there is a roar, a simple
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but powerful rule, one that works like a compass in
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uncertain terrain. When I notice anxiety that
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serves no useful purpose, when I notice fear that is protecting
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me from nothing, I move toward it until the feeling subsides.
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What if that is how you call fear's bluff?
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You look it in the eye and you say I see you and I'm doing it
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anyway. The bluff collapses.
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It always does, because it has no substance, only the
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appearance of substance. In the moment you step forward,
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reality reveals itself, and reality is almost always kinder
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than fear promised it would be. And each time you call the
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bluff, something happens in the nervous system.
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A new pathway forms, a new reference point is created.
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The unconscious mind files it carefully and notes we did that
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and we are still here. And actually, we are more than
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we were before. Feel like this is the next
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stepping stone after? Let's see.
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And what if you unleash your desire to call the bluff of
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fear? To move beyond the edges,
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expanding the comfort zone? There comes a moment.
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In every hero's journey, the darkest moment, the greatest
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challenge, the thing that seems too large, the situation that
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seems designed specifically to undo all progress.
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In the old stories they call this the Nemesis, the supreme
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test, the dragon at The Cave entrance, the storm before the
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harbour. And here is the secret that only
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those who have crossed this threshold know.
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The Nemesis is not there to defeat the hero, the Nemesis is
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there to reveal them. They show the hero what and who
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they have become. So when the test comes, and it
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will come as it comes for every person, rather than fear it, you
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can welcome it, as strange as that sounds.
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You can say I've been expecting you.
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This is the thing that proves I have changed.
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This is the fire that tempers the steel.
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And every time you face the thing outside your comfort zone,
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every time you take that step into the daunting space, your
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whole comfort zone expands. Not just in that area, but
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everywhere. Because courage is not
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compartmentalised. It belongs to all of you.
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Stand up in front of people who might laugh when something
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happens to your fear of smaller judgements.
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Volunteer for that difficult thing and the ordinary difficult
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things become easy. Face the one big fear and the
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100 small fears. Loosen their grip.
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And what is the reward for all this?
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For calling the bluff, for moving toward the shadow, for
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stepping into the daunting thing?
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What if it's a life, a future, a self that is more capable,
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stronger, larger than it was? I want you to imagine a circle
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drawn in the sand. Everything inside the circle is
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familiar, safe, known. Everything outside the circle in
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the sand is unknown, uncertain. This is the comfort zone.
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Just imagine every time you step outside the circle, it grows.
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It expands to include where you went.
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The circle gets bigger, your world gets bigger, and the
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person at the centre of that circle gets bigger too.
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A goldfish in a bowl remains small.
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A goldfish in a lake becomes large.
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Those things that once caused dread would then feel
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manageable. The sleep that was broken by
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tomorrow's worry now comes naturally because your nervous
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system has learned through experience, not just through
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words. That the world on the other side
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of fear is survivable, is worthwhile, is often wonderful.
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And just as you have already begun to notice a different
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quality to the mornings, a different relationship with the
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sensation in your chest before a challenge, this is only the
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beginning of how different things will feel in every great
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story. The hero returns home, but they
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return changed, carrying something they didn't have when
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they left. A gift, a wisdom, a medicine
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that they now offer to others. You are already living this.
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Every breakthrough, every progress within you is an
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opportunity to guide someone else.
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You already know where you are in this story.
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I want you to imagine that future where you return the
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conquering hero in possession of that gift that benefits you, but
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also that you can give to others.
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And just as a candle can light other candles, your gift doesn't
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disappear if you give it to others.
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The work you do on yourself never stays contained to you.
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It ripples. It models.
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It gives permission to those who watch you.
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Simply be someone courageous, brave, confident.
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That shy, timid version of you from the past flourishes,
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expands, because you are someone who faces the daunting thing,
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someone undeterred. And your unconscious mind can
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carry all of this forward, not as an instruction to be
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remembered, but as a knowing that is already part of you,
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already woven into how you move through the world and your
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future. Because from this place of deep
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knowing, allow these understandings to settle into
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the places where change lives. Not in the mind that thinks, but
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in the body that acts, in the nervous system that remembers,
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in the unconscious that guides. Whenever you notice fear that
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has no useful purpose, you will know it as false evidence
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appearing real, and you will choose action.
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Action calls the bluff of that fear.
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And every time you step outside your comfort zone, your comfort
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zone expands and you expand with it.
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You can always call fear's bluff.
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You can move toward it. Until the.
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Feeling dissolves and disappears, and the more you do
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it, the harder fear is defined. Because your hero's journey is
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already under way and the tests you face are not obstacles.
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They are the very evidence that you are growing, evolving,
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improving, because you are becoming someone who acts
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despite the feeling and with each action you become more of
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who you are truly meant to be. Very soon I will count from 1:00
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to 10:00 to awaken you. You will awaken within you set
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of beliefs around fear and anxiety, a desire to do what is
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beyond the comfort zone, to find it fun to call the bluff of
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fear. So take a deep breath in through
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your nose and out through your nose.
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Just wiggle your fingers and wiggle your toes.
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Connect and calibrate into the here and the now as I now count
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from 1:00 to 10:00 to awaken you.
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Starting to count 123 waking up 456 more alert 7-8 open your
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eyes. Open your eyes 910 Wide awake,
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Wide awake. Wide awake.
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Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode of The
31:50
Hypnotist. If you've enjoyed this episode
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or got some value from it, please give it a five star
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Thank you again for being a. Regular listener of The
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Hypnotist and I'll see you again soon for more.