SNAKES

A friend of mine told me her son is afraid to swim in lakes. He loves pools and even goes in the ocean, but lakes frighten him. She wondered if he fears snakes.

She asked him to imagine swimming in a lake and then draw a picture of what he saw. Sure enough, he drew snakes in the water with him. By identifying his fear, the direction to address it became obvious.

She took him to a serpentarium. Basically it’s a zoo for snakes. In addition to desensitizing him to the sight of snakes, he also picked up a lot of useful facts and good information. He learned there are poisonous and nonpoisonous snakes. Unless provoked, neither variety normally attacks. Both prefer being left alone and avoiding contact with humans. If swimming in a designated area, with plenty of other swimmers, the chances of running into snakes are pretty small. Though still frightened by snakes, he realized that swimming in a lake is not as dangerous as he thought.

Fear is irrational. A little education goes a long way to restore balance on the rationality scale.

This approach to draw a picture of fearful events is a good one. It applies to more than just frightened little boys. Adults can benefit from this technique, as well. It’s a great way to link the right and left halves of the brain in meaningful communication.

The left brain is the side possessing logic. Its ability to reason and draw conclusions makes it ideal for assessing information. However, it needs direction on what information to collect before it starts assessing. If left to its own motivation, it only fills itself with hordes of facts, which by themselves are essentially useless.

The right brain is aligned with passion and emotion. It fires the soul with desire, directing the total organism toward interesting paths of discovery. It spurs the left brain into channeling information that leads to achieving goals established by the right brain.

The right brain is also more in touch with irrational feelings. It’s not hung up on “cause and effect” relationships. It’s free to explore both the stimulus that elicits joy, as well as the tinder that fuels fear.

Drawing is a right brain activity. It allows fear to mingle with joy. Through the subconscious, honesty is always at work when engaged in the creative process. Thus, fears seep through filters set in place by the left brain. These fears can manifest in objects drawn. Once on paper, the left brain recognizes them. Then the alarms go off. But once out in the open, the left brain can now search its data banks, cross-linking options until it finds a solution that defuses the fear.

Even if a person is not an “artist,” they know what they’ve drawn. So, this technique can be successfully utilized anytime the person recognizes fear associated with some event or situation.

Clearly seeing the fears opens the door. Once the brain grasps the parameters of a problem, it begins formulating solutions until finding one that works. It may require more information, but that’s easily obtained once uncovering the need.

The whole process rests on identifying fears. This demands honesty from yourself and sometimes a few parlor tricks, like drawing a picture to uncover hidden fears.

So, identify fears lurking below the surface and swim freely in whatever lake you choose. I know one lad who’s doing just that.

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