I was told once by some one in the therapeutic community that my own reluctance to communicate my ideas was due chiefly to fears of disapproval. This was around the issue of overcoming writer’s block.

I have come to believe this is probably true but have always been waylaid by the question of how one gets rid of such a fear. Certainly it’s obverse, love of approval is well known; it takes very little observation of everyday life to conclude that most people dearly love approval, whether compliments, rewards, bonuses at work, medals or however else the general community chooses to communicate its favor.

In looking on the web for resources on the question, I came across mention of the Sedona Method.

This is a self-help technique developed by the late engineer and businessman, Lester Levenson. After a serious heart attack, Levenson regained his health and attributed his renewed positive outlook to a process of self-inquiry focused on his beliefs and their related emotions.

His web site claims this method does away with fear of disapproval. (I don’t know if this is true or not, as I have not undergone the method myself nor do I know of any one who has. If anyone has any contact with this program out there, please let us know.)

The process is designed to examine any emotion that one is experiencing and then “letting it go” or releasing it in the moment. The basic premise is that all emotions naturally come and go out of experience unless one resists them. The idea is supported in the writings of Carl Jung who noted, “What we resist persists.”

I suspect there is a grain of truth to this notion. What I resist is implementing true self resolves though this is not a constant. Or I resist following others’ ideas of what is best… and this has continued due to fear and doubt.

And I have resisted reaching out to strangers or being more extraverted in my every day dealings with people. So it is true that what I have resisted persists. And I doubt that I could give up fear of disapproval for I am, like so many others, a lover of approval.

Rather than give up the fear I suspect a more reasonable position is to willfully expose oneself to a modicum of disapproval and then assess the results: Is it the case that disapproval gradually lessens or becomes less important; or does one lose his sensitivity through increased exposure? If anyone has experience with these matters, I wish they would share them with our group.

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