Yesterday I was talking to a cousin who recently flew in from Canada.
He’s into cars and stuff and was telling me about how cool the new KIA Stinger is.
I am not into motorsports but what I really like about Stinger is the AEB system.
AEB stands for ‘Automatic Emergency Braking’.
It’s typically part of a warning system that uses radar or other sensors to detect when a crash is about to occur. It alerts the driver of the danger so the driver can brake or steer to avoid an accident. And in case if the driver doesn’t react quickly enough, the AEB system applies the brakes itself.
Stuttering is like a car with Automatic Emergency Brake system...
... the moment your brain subconsciously “warns” you about difficult words ahead, it starts hitting your vocal “brakes” to avoid “danger”.
In the stuttering community it’s called “Anticipation’.
Stuttering anticipation is the moment you know you are about to stutter, before you even open your mouth to say anything.
Like the AEB system in modern cars, the stutterer’s brain keeps on scanning ahead for obstacles.
If you’ve been stuttering and stammering for a while, you’re brain is now conditioned to perceive certain words and events as “dangerous”. Say, for example, talking to authority figures such as parents, teachers or boss. The radar of your brain is programmed to red-flag these kind of situations whenever it feels it is “within range”. When that happens - when it senses that a threat is imminent - it sends warning signals to your body, your throat muscles and your vocal chords, so they can prepare for “defense”.
This is what happens in your brain during Anticipation. It’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy: You anticipate you will stutterer, and you end up stuttering.
The only difference between a car and the stutterer’s brain is...
In the case of a car, the danger is REAL. There actually ARE hurdles along the way and if the driver doesn’t steer away or push brakes then there’s going to be a collision.
But the danger that your brain is anticipating, the fear of words.... it’s not real. It’s just PERCEIVED. It’s IN your mind. There’s nothing out there in the physical world that’s creating any danger.
“Words” are just sounds - they’re harmless.
You tell me...
How can a bunch of vowels and consonants ever be dangerous or difficult or hard??!
Like I said, it’s all in your brain.
You may think “So-and-so word is very difficult, I always stutter on it” - But in reality it’s much more complex than that.
What’s happening is that your mind is conditioned since childhood to associate some sounds, people and situations with fear and anxiety. Couple that with your genetic vulnerability for stuttering...
.... And you have a perfect formula for lifelong speech blocks.
But stuttering doesn’t have to be a lifelong condition.
In my course ‘Never Stutter Again’ you will learn how to break free from the stuttering anticipation by a process of deconditioning and unlearning the beliefs that cause you to stutter till now.
It’s a mindset training that will undo your brain’s “Automatic Emergency Braking” system, so you can speak with far more ease, clarity and fluency.
More information about the course is available in the below button.
