The "Hello darkness, my old friend" technique

[Shin]

Quote

 

Before I share the technique, I want to be very clear on one point.
This technique can be harmful to people who can't handle their emotions,

Even people that are decent at handling their emotions might still struggle with it.
So if you don't handle your emotions very well, I suggest to you that you do some more consciousness work until you can look at your fears without too much problem.
If you are decent at it I suggest to start with things that make you uncomfortable for a few weeks, but not something that really make you scared.

The reason I'm saying this is that some people may handle it so bad that it could give them a panic attack or suicidal thoughts.
I don't think such person would even try the technique, but I prefer to warn you in case you're bat shit crazy.

 

 

The technique is extremely easy and simple, yet truly challenging.
This is a technique I discovered empirically, and it's a technique that is most likely already well known by most people on the spiritual path.
It is not something special by any means, I'm only sharing it here because I didn't see anyone talking about it, and I don't remember Leo having done a video about it.

 

That being said, this is the technique:

You basically think about something you are scared of, but not about the thing in itself, you IMAGINE the worst possible scenario involving this fear.
Then, when the emotion of fear appears, you switch your attention entirely to the emotion itself.
The fear may disappear after a while, so you'll have to create the scenario again in your mind, multiple times.

You will tend to focus on the thought/imaginated scenario more than the emotion at first, especially if you have trouble to accept and let emotions flow in you.
This is totally normal, and this is the reason why it's a bad idea to do this if you aren't conscious enough to not get lost in your thoughts.
Because if you do get lost easily in your thougts, what will happen is that you will imagine the situation again and again, creating more and more fear.

The thing is, if you can focus on the emotion rather than the thought/scenario in your mind, then you can actually face the fear head on.
What will happen in the long term, is that the fear will drop, you won't fear it in your mind anymore, which will give you peace of mind if you hear someone talk about it, or if you hear something making you think about it.
In reality, when the situation happens, you may still fear it, but the fear will be lessened and you will be able to handle the situation way better than if you didn't practice this technique beforehand.

I recommand to do this once per week, for 30 minutes on sunday.
On sunday because if you get a little depressed, it will wear off one or two days after, and you will be able to enjoy the rest of the week.

I hope it will help some of you, don't hesitate to give feedbacks here, it would help me once I start to do it with friends  

Much Love 

Edited March 8, 2018 by Shin

[Shin]

@Max_V Here you buddy

 

[Charlotte]

First off, love the title

Second, Thanks for sharing ♥️

Third, Question?

20 minutes ago, Shin said:

.

I can't seem to imagine scenarios vivid enough in order for them to stir up any emotion, any ideas?

[Shin]

7 minutes ago, Charlotte said:

First off, love the title

Second, Thanks for sharing ♥️

Third, Question?

I can't seem to imagine scenarios vivid enough in order for them to stir up any emotion, any ideas?

Then you're lucky, for now ?

[Ether]

16 minutes ago, Charlotte said:

First off, love the title

Second, Thanks for sharing ♥️

Third, Question?

I can't seem to imagine scenarios vivid enough in order for them to stir up any emotion, any ideas?

Maybe you suppressed them?

[Charlotte]

20 minutes ago, Shin said:

Then you're lucky, for now ?

I actually WANT to though, in order to work through things. 

14 minutes ago, Ether said:

Maybe you suppressed them?

I'm not a suppressed type character ?

[Ether]

@Charlotte Accept the numbness

[Shin]

56 minutes ago, Charlotte said:

I actually WANT to though, in order to work through things. 

I'm not a suppressed type character ?

Common fear:

Death/torture/rape (of yourself or a loved one).

Gf/bf cheating, or allowing yourself and him to be in an open relationship (and other stuff like that).

Loosing all your money/living in the street/poverty

Cancer/other hardcore diseases or handicaps ...

Being alone/with no friends/family

...

 

 

 

 

[Ether]

Just now, Shin said:

Being alone/

...

 

 

 

 

Not a fear for me

[NoSelfSelf]

But when you want the fear to come it wont come

[ADD]

7 hours ago, NoSelfSelf said:

But when you want the fear to come it wont come

This is true, but you can sense a bit or it. But deep down you know it's fake because you forced it. So this is way more effective when you are actually freaking out for REAL.

[Max_V]

@Shin Thanks a lot for this.

I have found out a while ago that I can release my worries like this (If I'm scared to go to school, talk to someone, etc), but never thought about taking it to this extreme.

Sounds interesting, cheers!

[Shin]

3 hours ago, ADD said:

This is true, but you can sense a bit or it. But deep down you know it's fake because you forced it. So this is way more effective when you are actually freaking out for REAL.

10 hours ago, NoSelfSelf said:

 

The problem is that some fear shouldn't be forced to be confronted in real life, obviously.

In my experience it works quite well.

Edited March 9, 2018 by Shin

[Charlotte]

12 hours ago, Ether said:

@Charlotte Accept the numbness

You love acceptance ? I will do, thanks :').

11 hours ago, Shin said:

Common fear:

Death/torture/rape (of yourself or a loved one).

Gf/bf cheating, or allowing yourself and him to be in an open relationship (and other stuff like that).

Loosing all your money/living in the street/poverty

Cancer/other hardcore diseases or handicaps ...

Being alone/with no friends/family

...

 

 

 

 

Thanks ??❤️

3 hours ago, ADD said:

This is true, but you can sense a bit or it. But deep down you know it's fake because you forced it. So this is way more effective when you are actually freaking out for REAL.

This is exactly what I mean.

[Shin]

What kind of psychedelics would you recommand to use with this technique ?

Like you do.it for 30 minutes, then tale the psych, and you have a great chance to face it in a more realistic setup.

DO NOT DO THIS if you struggle with your emotions.

[Viking]

bro.. I had this nightmare a few days ago and it was the most terrifying thing ever, I woke up in the middle of the night. I still was dreamy so i heared sounds and i thought someone was coming to kill my family. The funny thing is I kinda realized it and 'surrendered' so much i was aware of my whole body shivering a couple of times, basically i guess i was aware of my emotions. I was unmoved by anything, i became super aware and just didnt care. I feel cocky right now as if i can face any fearful situation. like no matter what will happen ill be ok with it.

[cavedraw1]

I was just reading about "Desensitization (psychology)" on Wikipedia this weekend,,I thought kinda on topic with Shin's "Idea" on pre-conditioning self...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desensitization_(psychology)

then as always on Wikipedia it lead to another topic,then another,,,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systematic_desensitization

Edited March 12, 2018 by cavedraw1

[frnsh]

Lol this is amazing! I know how much it could work for me as I have strong sense of other beings staring at my face while meditating to be scared of. Though it could mess me up badly too. I really should stop watching those horror movies.