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Anne Skyvington

The Art of Creative Writing

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Psychology

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Psychology

Always something there to remind me…

Do you ever wake up with a song playing in your head?

With lyrics by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, this one, I discovered, was originally recorded as a demo for Dionne Warwick in 1963, and first charted for Lou Johnson in the summer of 1964.

And then, in the early eighties, just as I was entering my thirties, and tasting delicious, exacting motherhood for the first time, the song was revived by Naked Eyes, a British band whose video is on Youtube:

Always something there…

Always Something There to Remind Me

The Lyrics

I walk along the city streets you used to walk along with me
And every step I take reminds me of just how we used to be
Well, how can I forget you, girl?
When there is always something there to remind me
Always something there to remind me

As shadows fall, I pass a small cafe where we would dance at night
And I can’t help recalling how it felt to kiss and hold you tight
Well, how can I forget you, girl?
When there is always something there to remind me
Always something there to remind me
I was born to love her, and I will never be free
You’ll always be a part of me
Oh whoa ooh whoa ooh whoa oh

If you should find you miss the sweet and tender love we used to share
Just go back to the places where we used to go and I’ll be there
Well, how can I forget you, girl?
When there is always something there to remind me
Always something there to remind me
I was born to love her, and I will never be free
You’ll always be a part of me
‘Cause there is always something there to remind me

Always something there to remind me

Wo, wo, wo, oh, oh, oh!

Other singers of the song include Sandy Shaw 1964; R.B. Greaves 1969; the Hippos 1999; All Saints 1998; and the crooner, Richard Poon in the 2000s. In fact, this song has been recorded widely over time and space. Eddy Mitchell, (acca Claude Moine) a French singer of Rock, R&B, and country music sang the song in French (Toujours un coin qui me rappelle) to great acclaim in 1965.

In the second half of the 1960s, I was living in France. There I was enchanted by the powerful and moving songs of George Brassens, Edie Piaff and Jacques Brel.

It’s about stuff surging up from the depths of the Unconscious without your doing?

Always something there to remind me… was last modified: December 23rd, 2021 by Anne Skyvington
September 19, 2019 2 comments
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freud's couch
Emotions and HealthPsychology

Psychology as a Field of Study

Psychology is a relatively recent area of research and treatment for “inner” emotional problems, with Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) creating his famous brand of psychoanalysis in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  William James (1842-1910) is an American philosopher who favoured pragmatic psychology as a way of explaining the mind. Other well-known leaders in the field are Carl Jung, Otto Rank,  R.D. Laing, Fritz Perls, Wilhelm Reich,  Erich Fromm, Pierre Janet, and Alfred Adler.

Depth forms of therapy, sometimes known as psychodynamic therapy, consider past events in a person’s life from a causal perspective. They rely on in-clinic experience, and the close relationship between the analyst and the analysand. Cognitive behavioural therapies (CBT) rely more on evidence-based research, and involve retraining of clients’ thought processes, emotions and behaviour, without the necessity to recover repressed memories from the past

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Psychology as a Field of Study was last modified: February 14th, 2021 by Anne Skyvington
June 20, 2018 0 comment
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Emotions and HealthExistencePsychology

Western Influencers Down Through The Ages

GREEKS of ANTIQUITY

I had my first taste of philosophy at Armidale Teachers College in 1961. This was one of the options that I chose to study, apart from the more mundane teaching subjects that were mandatory. Miss Margaret Mackie enchanted us with stories of the Delphic oracle, as well as introducing me to a long-term love affair with Plato, and Platonic ideals.  I did not realise it at the time, but this gifted teacher was opening up the foundations of Western philosophy and science to me and to others in the class.

Plato

Plato (428-348BC) has been cited as one of the founders of Western religion and spirituality.

Plato’s teacher was Socrates, and much of Plato’s works are based on Socrates’ ideas. We studied Plato’s Republic, an amazing work about the just society. Our teacher focused on the allegory of the Cave, which has fascinated students of philosophy and mysticism ever since.

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Western Influencers Down Through The Ages was last modified: February 18th, 2021 by Anne Skyvington
June 5, 2018 0 comment
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MythosPsychology

Shadows and Synchronicities

The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung  (1875-1961) created many of the enduring terms for the mind and for the unconscious that have enriched literature and humanity during the twentieth century. Certainly he was firstly a follower of Freud and the psychoanalytic method that Freud instigated. But terms such as “projection”, “archetypes”, “complexes”, “the shadow”, “the collective unconscious”and “the anima/animus” all owe their enduring resonance to him and to those who built on his legacy, some of which is still being uncovered today.

The Red Book, with its beautiful mandalas and paintings by the author, has only in recent years been open to public scrutiny.carl-jung-red-book Jung also wrote about polarities and the importance of wholeness, that is, the need to synthesise disparate entities, in order to find what he called “the self”.  When I first read Jung, during my own adolescent crises, it was as if he was talking directly to me.  He understood what I’d been going through, and what I was to go through later on.  And I would come to see, eventually, how my individual experiences and search for wholeness were a reflection of societal structures: the microcosm in the macrocosm, and vice versa.

When asked once what he saw as the most important and ubiquitous aspect of the human mind, Jung replied without hesitation: “Projection“.

Could it be that many of the problems facing the world at this time can be seen in terms of projection? Is this why the  new President of the United States has taken to demonising Muslims?  In differentiating between “them” and “us”, the others (Muslims) become the demons or, in Jungian terms, “the shadow”. If ignored, the shadow side of us becomes relegated to the unconscious. Jung stated that: “Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is… Mere suppression of the shadow is as little of a remedy as beheading for a headache.” (Jung: CW: Psychology and Religion).

I interpret the election of President Donald Trump in terms of Jung’s shadow idea: the visionary Obama is succeeded by the Machiavellian Trump. I’ve recently replied to emails from very dear friends in America, aghast at Trump’s antics, and apologetic about that phone call from our Australian Prime Minister. I tell them that good often follows bad, and vice versa. You have to look at the shadow and try to understand it, and where it’s coming from, in order to deal with it, and to see where it’s going.

obama-trump-head-shots

In any case, I tell them (my American friends), bullies never last all that long; or at least they come a cropper in the end. Hopefully they don’t cause too much damage in the meantime.

Bullies in literature usually get their come-uppance, I say.  Look at Javert in Les Misérables by Victor Hugo; Hannibel in The Silence of the Lambs; and the punishment meted out to Mrs Norris in Mansfield Park, when she must live with the ruined Julia, where, Austen tells us, “shut up together with little society, on one side no affection, on the other no judgment, it may be reasonably supposed that their tempers became their mutual punishment.”

And who could forget the part in The Neverending Story when sensitive Bastian Balthazar’s nemeses are thrown into garbage bins?  I must admit to relishing harsh punishments meted out to bullies in books such as these.

A bully is a schoolboy’s word for a narcissist. Sometimes, though, it just means teasing. A malignant narcissist is the psychological term for someone who has become so self-absorbed that their only purpose in communicating is to satisfy their needs for self-aggrandisement.

In his analytical memoir, “Awakened by Darkness”, Paul Levy describes such a narcissist as “a thug in the realm of the psyche”, who acts with cruelty towards those to whom he is closest: parents, sisters, mother, children.

Levy defines “synchronicity” in his book, as events that appear to happen outside of the time-and-space continuum, seemingly contradicting third dimensional reality. He links this term to the beginning of an enlightened person’s awakening realisation, often mistaken for a psychosis, of the “dream-like nature of reality”. This describes his own inner journey from the darkness of an abusive father/son relationship, towards the light of a spiritual awakening.

smoke-spirit-mystery

dream-like nature of reality

Other books I’ve been reading in recent times include, The Good Society by  the American economist John Kennedy Galbraith, given to me by one of my wise American friends several years ago. It begins with the words: “Among the great nations of the world none is more given to introspection than the United States.”

And I’ve returned to reading The Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole,  an uproariously funny novel about an anti-hero, Ignatius J. Reilly, “flatulent, eloquent and pretty much unemployable.”

This novel was published posthumously by the author’s mother, after the author, sadly, took his own life.

Sometimes it takes courage to enable one to laugh at negatives, while awaiting or working towards a more positive resolution.

I need to add that, rather than looking outside ourselves or our communities, we must consider the possibility that economic and environmental degradation, shootings of innocents, increasing youth suicide and climate change, are outer signs of inner problems and wrong values.

Mental illness is widespread in most communities. That would be a good place to start.

Shadows and Synchronicities was last modified: February 14th, 2021 by Anne Skyvington
February 8, 2017 2 comments
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the-brain-colourful
Emotions and HealthExistencePsychology

Networking and Emotional Intelligence

Swedish love coach, Carolin Dahlman,  gave a presentation to our writers’ group on the idea of networking in order to be published. Most of the large group of writers who attended were hoping to be published one day.  emotional-intelligence-therapistHer message was that, in this fast-moving world, we need to self-promote through the internet and other technology at our disposal, and to go out and meet people and talk about our projects. Admittedly, she has found a rewarding niche for herself, in that many lonely people need her psychological know-how, and her skills for relating to others. At the same time, she has to self promote and she has boundless energy for doing so.
A question from a group member who saw himself as being highly intelligent was about IQ versus EQ. He believed in the supremacy of IQ, intelligence quotient,  for a happy life. Carolin claimed that, in fact, IQ can be an obstacle in a person’s search for “truth”. Her response was that emotional intelligence (EQ or EI) is far more important for finding love and happiness than IQ. She often meets intelligent men and women who are afraid of seeking out love and who live a lonely life as a result.
 Several people in the group pointed out examples of “idiot savants” (Remember “Rain Man” played by Dustin Hoffman?) who can calculate extraordinary sums in their head, but who can barely look after themselves. However, these are extreme examples of specifically gifted individuals within the “autism spectrum”, who do not score well on intelligence tests at all.
 Another definition of EQ is from Salovey and Mayer: “A form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions.
Daniel Goleman, in his 1995 book Emotional Intelligence, identified 4 aspects of the concept as follows: Knowing your emotions; managing your own emotions; motivating yourself; managing relationships i.e. managing the emotions of others. The fifth one is the hardest to achieve;  many parents will agree with this, as small children are naturally egotistical.
Another point to consider: High intelligence and moral or ethical behaviour are not necessarily in synchrony. Biographies of highly intelligent men, such as Albert Einstein, show him to be a seriously flawed individual.

einstein-science-art

 Did Albert Einstein attempt to synthesise, at least through his writings, the two aspects of intelligence, as this painting suggests?
Networking and Emotional Intelligence was last modified: February 18th, 2021 by Anne Skyvington
September 22, 2016 4 comments
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psychology-faces-tree-branches
MythosPsychology

Are You Left Brained or Right Brained?

I must tread carefully here…

I have to be careful when discussing the concept of left versus right brained people, as I’m married to a scientist, who also happens to be a very creative person. He was an actor when we first met, but has for a long time worked in a left-brained (academic) field: researching best-practice treatments for treating stuttering. I, by contrast, have veered more and more towards creative endeavours, especially since retiring, devoting my skills and practice to creative writing. I wouldn’t even ask my husband to try this, as he would most probably scorn the idea of it. (We ustilise both sides of the brain all the time! he’d say.)

Follow the dancing lady…


When I follow the dancing lady figure closely with my eyes — many might see it as a puerile exercise or a trick—something interesting happens. I only see her turning right. Does this clinch the deal? I’m a right-brained person!

Left-brained people are said to utilise the parts of the brain related to logic, whereas  right-brained people choose the areas concerned with creativity.

Many who subscribe to this idea of left-brained versus right-brained, believe that we are born with a particular leaning towards one or the other hemisphere.  However, I see this distinction as partly metaphorical, rather than literal. That is, we are probably utilising both hemispheres of the brain all of the time, when working mentally, thinking and using language. But certain tracts or pathways might be forged differently, certainly over time, for the creative versus the logical thinker.

 Genetic or not?

Our daughter has inherited the two faculties in perfect measure: she can swing between a logical way of thinking and a creative approach whenever she chooses to. However, her preferred path is the creative one.  She is a very good artist, has always been attracted to drama, fashion, interior design, and communicating with friends and with people in general. She would not be happy sitting behind a desk, studying or working at a “monotonous” job. Yet, the following photo of her kiosk, part of a business plan she is constructing, required her to use skills that draw on both traditional left and right sides of the brain when required. The overall impact of the business will be based on her gifted creative skills. Have I mentioned that she is also a very good critical and analytical thinker?

akates-proposed-kiosk-store

Are You a Creative or Logical Thinker?

Overall, I’m probably a creative, rather than a logical thinker. Yet I’ve excelled in academic pursuits at certain points in my life, when I’ve chosen to do so.  At this stage in life, I have chosen to follow my goal of mastering creative writing (fiction and memoir) now that I have retired from full-time language/linguistic work.  And recently, in every survey I’ve filled in relating to this topic, I’ve been shown to fall on the side of “right-brained” rather than “left-brained”.  But only just.  That is, I’m using all of my brain, all of the time, but I’m currently favouring creativity, over logical thinking.  And it shows!

Which side of the brain do you think you favour?

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Brain scanning technology is quickly approaching levels of detail that will have serious implications (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Are You Left Brained or Right Brained? was last modified: September 12th, 2021 by Anne Skyvington
September 15, 2016 5 comments
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Psychology

The Fear … the Fear…

Fear, like pain, is often a good thing. It’s normal to be afraid of dangerous creatures, such as funnel web spiders. It’s only when fear is out of proportion, and gets in the way of life and living, that it becomes a negative emotion.

Some people are afraid of all insects, and all spiders. Even a spider behind glass, a dead spider, is an object of terror for them. This is called a phobia. I had a huntsman spider (fortunately not a funnel-web) run up and down my legs and thighs recently when taking in the washing, and I remained calm, partly for my young grandson’s sake, who was nearby at the time.

However, having to walk into a room full of people I don’t know is still anxiety provoking for me. What is it about social phobia that is so hard to overcome? For some people it reaches a level that is pathological. Sixty percent of people who stutter avoid speaking and become socially phobic as a result of their fear of having to communicate. This is akin to a mental illness;  the stutterer’s life is limited by this fear of communicating verbally.

It is avoidance that is often central to phobias. Cognitive behaviour therapists in this country have many strategies to assist sufferers. These often include gentle, continued exposure to the source of fear over time, whether it be flying, socialising, making speeches, or  asking questions in group situations.

A very recent perspective on phobias is to link them all to the underlying fear of death. See this interesting conversation on this topic at http://theconversation.com/fear-of-death-underlies-most-of-our-phobias-57057

autumn-leaves-cemeteryjpg

Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is the preferred approach today for tackling phobias in this country. Medication, combined with talk therapy, for cases of anxiety and clinical depression has superseded the widespread use of psychoanalysis compared to before. Powerful drugs are available for serious mental illnesses, such as bipolar and schizophrenia, almost untreatable by doctors in the past. However, many personality disorders are resistant to today’s CBT approaches. Sufferers might benefit more from a return to an in-depth psychoanalytical type approach.

There are so many things to fear in life. And so many diverse sources of fear for different people. Shyness in childhood may be  a symptom of anxiety in young children. It’s quite common between the ages of four and seven. But some of us get stuck at around that age—often through traumatic past events—and are left with residual fear and anxiety that can develop into social phobia later on. This is more likely to happen in adolescence, when hormones are swirling around in the body and mind.

I remember being terribly afraid of the dark when I was little. Once I woke up screaming about a dark shape underneath the bed. Dad came running in. He flashed a torch under my bed. But it didn’t help, as it gave credence to my fears. What would have helped would have been if he’d let me climb into bed between him and Mum. I know that it’s not always easy for parents to do so, as they need their space, too. It meant that I had to find a surrogate to snuggle up to in bed, which in my case was my brother, Donny.

Later on, I was afraid of going to the dentist.  But I’ve learnt, through relaxation and meditation, to overcome that as an adult. It took longer to overcome a fear of flying, but in the end I succeeded there too. Fear of giving speeches in front of a large audience is a common fear worse than death for many people. I also suffered from this, despite having been a teacher for many years.

The  DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) has opted for the name “social anxiety” rather than “phobia”, as it is more inclusive of diverse conditions. More experienced psychologists in Australia use this manual only as a guide to classifying emotional disorders. People with acute social phobia believe they are being watched and judged by others. Some become so fearful that they avoid all social interaction by staying indoors.

These days some therapists use “energy” or “spiritually” based methods that are often very effective. And “mindfulness meditation”, sometimes denuded of its Buddhist religious base, is also recommended by psychiatrists and psychologists today. I have found meditation to be one of the best methods that exists to overcome or to lesson fear-based issues and generalised anxiety.

I have also found that, by maintaining the spiritual accompaniment, it works better for me.

The Fear … the Fear… was last modified: September 14th, 2021 by Anne Skyvington
September 12, 2016 8 comments
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MythosPsychology

Are you afraid of Death?

When I was sixteen, a boyfriend said during one of our many debates on the existence or not of God: “What if we decided not to believe, and woke up one day to realise we were wrong all along. We’d feel a goon. Maybe we should hedge our bets just in case.” I tried to do that, but I was the original “Doubting Thomas“. I went through periods of believing in a higher being; then sometimes my belief would evaporate like the morning dew, just as quickly as it had appeared. Now I realise that “the truth” might be outside our limited human understanding. I like the introduction to the following trailer, but would take issue with it as it progresses. The conclusions are very depressing. It speaks to the head, and not to the heart, as it draws to its dark conclusions. It is not recommended that you watch the complete video, unless, of course, that you agree with its premises.

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Are you afraid of Death? was last modified: November 4th, 2021 by Anne Skyvington
August 21, 2016 4 comments
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Gree ntrree frog
MythosPsychology

Things I fear …

Most people don’t admit to being afraid; this refers especially to men. That’s one of the reasons for the denial and stigmatising of mental illness. Showing vulnerable feelings is shameful in many people’s eyes. But everyone is fearful of something, and at certain times in life.

A friend once said: “Tell me what you are afraid of, and I will tell you who you are.” He was very good at knowing, being a psychic.

What are you afraid of?

Some people are afraid of dogs. Others are afraid of birds. My psychic friend said this latter fear represents a fear of the “other side”. This accords well with the arbitrary nature of many phobias, which are not linked to actual events in a person’s current or early life. Some of the members of my original family were extremely afraid of frogs. These harmless creatures were all around us on the farm, and they evoked extreme fear in the female members of the extended family, in spite of their never being known to hurt anyone. In literature, these creatures often represent sexuality. Carl Jung saw them as God’s first failed attempt to create a man.

For a long time I was afraid to show my writing to others. Like a lot of writers, who tend to be sensitive souls, I preferred  to immerse myself in the written word, rather than “leading from the mouth”.  One or two rejections or unkind words, were enough to stop me from trying to get published. Joining a writing group marked my first breakthrough moment. Members of this group—part of the Fellowship of Australian Writers—gave me the ability to give and receive feedback in a safe and supportive setting.

Fear of Getting Rejected

One day I asked how many of my group were writing in order to be published.  I was surprised to learn that they all, without exception, wanted to be published.

They all agreed, of course, that the basic impetus for good writing is passion. That is, you write because you really want to, and love to, not because you want to get published. Otherwise, your writing will probably not be good enough to be published in any case.

And trying to be published has not always been easy for many of us. In order to get published you needed an agent, and in order to find an agent, you needed to be published in some form or other!  It was a case of the ubiquitous vicious circle. That is why it’s an exciting time for writers today.  A Strategic Book Publisher sums it up: “With ebooks and Kindle and m-books for mobile phones around the world, it’s a great time to be an author and a publisher. We hope to convey that enthusiasm to the world.”

Of course, quality needs to be maintained as well as publishing facility, and that’s where editors and reviewers come into the picture.

Early Genesis of Some Fears

Where does my extreme fear of rejection come from? I know I’m a good writer, so why have I not put myself out there in book published form? It is easier to avoid the discomfort of pushing through the fear, rather than to face up to it and expose yourself to rejection.

I think the answer to feelings of shame and fear of rejection, lies in past events, so long ago that many of us prefer to ignore them and to not go there.

Finding Surrogate Nurturers

I am reading a book now about mothers and daughters:  the ubiquitous story of fraught mother/daughter relationships. We all need to feel that sense of being loved, and of being valued for who we are.

However, surely this security can come from surrogates, or even from oneself, if you have missed out on it a long way back.

In any case, somewhere therein lies my own story, and I owe it to myself, and to my writing,  to find the strength to overcome this fear.

Read or listen to Guy Winch on early rejection and emotional problems.

Things I fear … was last modified: October 30th, 2021 by Anne Skyvington
August 20, 2016 0 comment
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Psychology

Fear of Flying

 Mountains out of Molehills

I’ve often had a tendency,  from childhood onwards, to be overly dramatic and magnify things.  It’s part of the empathic highly sensitive temperament. Mum used to say:  “You catastrophise everything”.

It’s also one of the causes of suffering from anxiety.  And I now know that this goes hand-in-hand with the Black Dog (depression). I suffered from both of these problems for a long time. Psychologists in this country use cognitive behaviour techniques (CBT) on people like me.  This involves teaching you how to change thoughts, to over-ride fearful feelings and alter behaviour.  It’s a re-education process. Therapists also encourage strategies, such as meditation, in tandem with gentle exposure to the fearful situation. Examples of things that trigger fear in people are making a speech in public, meeting new people, thinking about dying, or coming in close contact with frogs, snakes  or spiders.

Fear of Flying in Planes

What led me to this particular psychologist was an extreme fear of flying. My new boyfriend at the time was an international traveller.  It was part of his work, as a “sommelier”, and he wanted me to visit all these amazing places with him.

My therapist said: “Why are you afraid of going in a plane? What is it that scares you about it?”

“The plane might crash,” I said. He told me the statistics, and how it was much safer than walking the streets or driving in a car. “These jets don’t just fall out of the sky, you know.”

I gave him my Don’t be ridiculous look and said: “But what if it did?” My teeth began to chatter at the thought of the plane tumbling down through the ether.

“Well, you’d die quickly, I suppose,” he said, and gave a shrug. “But it’s as rare as winning the lottery or hitting the jackpot on the pokies.”

“I can’t stand the thought of the terrible fear, just as the plane begins its descent, and I know …”.  I couldn’t finish the sentence, I was hyperventilating.

“I have spoken to crash survivors,” he said, and paused for great effect, “who say that a deep calm came over them, when they thought that they were going to die.”

“Well, I don’t like the idea of knowing I’m about to die,” I said. “It’s my greatest fear.”

“Would you like to get over your fear?” he asked. “If I could help you?”

“Yes, yes,” I cried, my eyes shining. “My boyfriend wants me to travel with him around the world. It’s the chance of a lifetime.”

What’s the  worst thing…?

Therapists down under here where I live, love this  little CBT game. It involves them asking fear victims about worst case scenarios:

“What’s the worst thing that could happen if you took a short trip in an aeroplane?” he asked. “Apart from crashing, that is?”

“I might hyperventilate, vomit,” I stammered, “or have a panic attack, shake all over with fear and … feel like I’m dying.”

“What’s the worst thing that could happen if you did all of those things, one after the other or all together?” he asked.

“I might feel sick.”

“Is that a big problem?”

“No.”

“What else?”

“People might laugh at me.”

“And what would be the consequence of that?”

“I’d feel bad,” I said.

“Is that all?”

“And sick.”

“Anything else?”

“Just death.”

To Leap or not to Leap

After many sessions like this, my therapist invited me to accompany him on a short plane trip. It was part of the package deal that I was paying for.

By the fifth trip with this kindly mentor, I’d learnt how to go up into the skies in a plane without hyperventilating, without vomiting or having a panic attack. I was proud of myself. Overjoyed. I’d be globe-trotting soon, for sure.

But then…

My boyfriend asked me, one fine weekend, to go skydiving with him. I couldn’t believe he’d want me to do this. Had I teamed up with a sadist? Was this his idea of a bad joke?

As we zoomed up into the ether in the small plane, I imagined I’d soon be toppling off the edge of the world and into the void. Matt was calm. He held me close from behind,  as we edged towards the open door of the aircraft. My teeth were chattering, it wasn’t from the cold. I closed my eyes. That helped. The last thing I wanted to see was the void below the open hatch, like a giant mouth sneering up at me.

Matt was hugging me into his body. “Our parachute will open up,” he said calmly into my ear. “I will keep you safe.” I was still closing my eyes tightly to block out the view of the gaping emptiness about to swallow me up. It’s do or die, I thought. Either way was bad.

“Just peer over the edge before taking the leap” he said, “and if it’s all clear, jump, and we’ll go together.”

I did what he said. I opened my eyes wide. My heart went up into my mouth and I couldn’t even scream. But I did it, and we soared together. He was the carapace of a large flying tortoise,  I the soft underbelly.

My fear suddenly left me, as we sailed down through the sky,  my boyfriend on top of me and the parachute opening above us both like a smiling promise.

I jumped because, after all, not leaping seemed to be a much bigger risk, at least to my love life.

Editor’s Note: This is a fictional piece of writing, partly tongue-in-cheek. If you have a real problem with Flight Phobia you might need to try a different approach than the one suggested above.

soar-the-book

Captain Bunn founded SOAR to develop effective methods for dealing with flight anxiety.

Therapists who have found this phobia difficult to treat will find here everything they need to give their clients success.

Anxious flyers who have “tried everything” to no avail can look forward to joining the nearly 10,000 graduates of the SOAR program who now have the whole world open to them as they fly anxiety free wherever they want. See his book on Amazon:

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  • 7 Ways to Bring Out Your Confidence
  • Social Networking as a Therapeutic Device
Fear of Flying was last modified: September 16th, 2021 by Anne Skyvington
August 19, 2016 13 comments
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About The Author

About The Author

Anne Skyvington

Anne Skyvington is a writer based in Sydney who has been practising and teaching creative writing skills for many years. You can learn here about structuring a short story and how to go about creating a longer work, such as a novel or a memoir. Subscribe to this blog and receive a monthly newsletter on creative writing topics and events.

Buy Karrana my debut novel from Amazon online

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My How To book about Writing A Novel: The Big Picture

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Recent Posts

  • Have You Ever Experienced The “Numen”?

    April 27, 2022
  • I visit the Ukraine in 1968

    February 25, 2022
  • In Search of a Voice

    February 19, 2022
  • Armidale: The Gang of Four

    February 18, 2022
  • KARRANA: A Professional Review

    February 11, 2022

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About The Author

About The Author

Anne Skyvington is a Sydney-based writer and blogger. <a href="http://anneskyvington.com.au She has self-published a novel, 'Karrana' and is currently writing a creative memoir based on her life and childhood with a spiritual/mystical dimension.

Popular Posts

  • Randwick Writers’ Group: Sharing Writing Skills

    May 7, 2020
  • 5 Further Publishing Facts

    April 1, 2020
  • Symbolism of Twins

    October 2, 2017
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