Comments on: Fear: Should You Bulldoze Through It?

By: Dunstan Bertschinger

Dunstan Bertschinger — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:02:31 +0000

I love these ideas and that diagram particularly! So simple and obvious and I have never seen it before.

It fits in with Vygotsky’s ‘Zone of Proximal Learning’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_of_proximal_development that I was taught ‘ad abstractum’ during my teacher training and also the concept of the ‘comfortable edge’ which my yoga teacher has taught me to apply. More on that in my comment on Mark’s article about sales – http://www.heartofbusiness.com/no-chase-down-2/

How sweet when truth reveals itself from many places, yay!

Dunstan

By: Level 3: Comfort, Learning & Dance | Adventures of a Shivanaut

Level 3: Comfort, Learning & Dance | Adventures of a Shivanaut — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 23:40:00 +0000

[...] the basics and starting to push my practice outside of my current abilities lead me to think about a post at Emma’s Tao of Prosperity blog where she introduced an idea to me that built on the idea of a comfort zone, whilst also explaining [...]

By: Tao of Prosperity · My Fear of Showing Up Bigger In The World

Tao of Prosperity · My Fear of Showing Up Bigger In The World — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 05:30:55 +0000

[...] fear”, I don’t mean “force yourself into a situation you are afraid of and try to bulldoze your way through it by suppressing your desire to run screaming in the other [...]

By: Emma

Emma — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:52:07 +0000

@Alex
The best way I’ve found to notice or map the transition from learning-zone to panic-zone is to tune into your body. The panic zone makes itself felt in a variety of ways: going fuzzy or feeling foggy, dazed, or confused, having emotions wash over you in this overwhelming way, racing thoughts, racing heart, freezing, an overwhelming urge to leave no matter what, getting really defensive, feel paralyzed. They are often referred to by 4 F’s: Freeze, Fight, Flight, Faint (as in go fuzzy or get confused).

Everyone does panic-zone differently so it’s a matter of really being aware of what your body’s and mind’s responses are when it feels unsafe. It’s definitely a practice – checking in with your body periodically until it becomes a habit to have it in your awareness. When you develop that, it becomes possible to be able to say in a conversation that is triggering things like “WOAH. I’m going fuzzy. I need a minute to get grounded.” instead of reacting. That feels *awesome*.

By: Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome

Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 04:32:01 +0000

Hmmm.. I’ve never thought about fear this way. What you say makes perfect sense. Now I just need to figure out where the learning zone ends and the panic zone begins (or at least have a rough idea of the constantly shifting boundary)

By: Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:07:47 +0000

)) Janie was more about the bribes than the beatings. Always carried these butterscotch hard candies in her monster purse.

By: Emma

Emma — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:04:58 +0000

@Emily

LOL, whereas I can still recall my music teacher in fourth grade saying “You know Emma, *louder* isn’t the same as *higher*. The point is to sing the right notes”. Sigh. I loved to sing loud! Nothing felt better than belting out “When The Saints Come Marching In…”. Lord, how I wanted to be in that number! (Don’t ask me why we were singing about saints and the Lord in public school).

Gentle feedback = awesome.

Learning about nuance = awesome (as long as someone doesn’t beat you over the head with it).

By: Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:32:25 +0000

Wow, this makes a lot of sense. I still have a lot of fear about the dancing in public. I’ must have had an experience so humiliating that I can’t even recall it. When I’ve tried to “heal” that experience–usually by doing more dancing in public–I was trying to heal myself while in the Panic Zone. Der! (to quote many of my greatest teachers.)

Singing is another matter–uh, comfort tyme! I can sing in public because singing was one of the cornerstones of the religion I grew up in. To please my grandmother, as well as the Lord, I made it my goal to sing as *loud* as possible. Later, Grandma Janie gently informed that volume wasn’t a virtue. Such a sweetie, the first to teach me about nuance in art.

By: Emma

Emma — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:20:55 +0000

@James
Totally. I guess could also be called the “Challenge” zone. Always key to be on your learning edge so as not to be bored. =)

@Mark
Thanks, glad it was clear. And yeah…let’s go find something to be scared of! =)

By: Mark Silver

Mark Silver — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 11:47:17 +0000

Ever since LaShelle introduced me to the comfort-learning-panic zone circles, they’ve been a great guideline. And, I love the distinction you make between grounding the fear and bulldozing through it without grounding it.

Very clear.

Now, let’s get a-fearful about something really miserable, and test out all these different approaches.