Experiencing some form of worry or anxiety in social situations can be quite common, with public speaking, work meetings and parties being some of the most common anxiety inducing situations. When we feel anxious in social situations we might enter a room with our heads held low, avoiding eye contact, feeling very self-conscious and worrying what others are thinking of us. All of these avoidant behaviours and unhelpful thoughts only make the anxiety worse in the long run and don’t allow us to overcome it.
Think about when a dog enters a room – they do so with their ears pricked up and tail wagging because they are excited to be exploring a new space. The dog isn’t worried about how they might appear or what others may think of them. The dog is completely focused on the external environment and what is in that room for them. We could all learn a lot from dogs. Most of us could do with caring a bit less about what others think of us, being more in the present moment and less in our own heads. That may sound easy in theory, but how do you put that into practice? Part of the solution is about learning to shift your focus of attention.
With cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy I help my clients to learn how to shift their focus of attention and to overcome self-consciousness. I use a number of techniques combined with hypnosis to help them achieve this. If you are interested in how cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy could help you to overcome anxiety, contact me to book a free no-obligation consultation call. If you found this article helpful and would like to see more content please follow me on Facebook or LinkedIn.
