Do you know that newborn babies only have two fears: sudden loud noises and fear of falling?

All of our other fears and phobias are learned from bad experiences, and we store those memories in our complex minds. But our minds misbehave, and the self-narrative that hampers our thoughts is often out of date.

I’m not saying that you can eliminate your fears and phobias by simply knowing this fact, but being consciously aware of it could be the starting point for you to seek professional support – perhaps even hypnosis.

Yet, especially as resources are so thinly spread and costly, there’s a lot you can do yourself to help harness your fears now that you have this nugget of wisdom. The main mind shift being to let your intellect regain control of your wayward mind.

I used to be scared of innocent butterflies, and I know precisely what the trigger was: I picked up a Red Admiral mistaking it for a Victorian artifact one day as a child whilst digging around in the garden of my family home. I jumped out of my skin, in exactly the same way I would later as a teenager when my mischievous school pal decided to chase me with one!

And then I grew up, and of course, I encountered butterflies in abundance. None worse than the time when one flew into my office through the open door which led onto the street – everyone heard my scream! You can imagine how embarrassed I was.

I remember it vividly, but I also recall what my former colleague, Dawn, said whilst handing me a sweet cup of tea: “Emma, it’s only a butterfly, it won’t hurt you!”

She spoke to my conscious mind, and my intellect heard her.

These days, whilst I don’t love butterflies, I no longer flee the room – well, less so at least, because I remember that they can’t hurt me even though I don’t like the unpredictable way in which they fly. I make my intellect override my fear – I recall Dawn’s kind words, and I can at last check off one angst from my mind!