What allows people to feel supported is when we truly listen, when we don’t center our own experiences, and when we don’t try to change an experience of another.
If you’re in freeze right now, it makes sense. If you feel like you’re floating above your body, that gaps of times are missing, or like your mind is racing but your body can barely get off the couch— that’s a natural reaction.
That’s your nervous system in a dorsal vagal state.
The past few years have brought up so much collective trauma. At the same time, people who are sensitive, highly attuned, and self aware can see what’s considered “normal” in society is not normal at all. And yet, we’re expected to keep going. To keep pushing and pushing. To consume, not question, and ignore the quiet whispers in our mind and hearts that say something isn’t’ right.
Your body might be saying that right now. And while we‘ve been taught to disconnect from our body— it still speaks. Indigenous cultures knew the body held wisdom. The wisest people in our history knew our gut was the one thing we could fully trust. Ancient civilizations knew a culture where people are robbed of agency, purpose, meaning, and social connection would result in “mental illness.” PS- crazy wise is an amazing documentary on this.
As a trained western clinical psychologist, I was taught to diagnose. To look to the DSM. To tell people that they had things like substance use disorder, depression, or personality disorders. The modern mental health system disconnected the brain from the body, and from the wisdom from our ancestors. It left out the important framework of attachment and complex trauma in favor a brain disease theory that research shows is no longer accurate.
My experience in that system changed everything for me. It opened my eyes. I saw people get sicker and sicker. And I saw people not being told the truth: that we are all resilient and capable of healing.
When you hear people’s stories, you learn human beings are master adaptors. That we are all products of our lived experiences, and that our bodies will speak (then scream) when we are in environments that are not meant for us.
When we are in the same room with other people, our nervous system and heart sync. We feel each other. We’re collectively, intertwined.
So this is your reminder that you’re not lazy. You’re not a failure. You’re not “not wanting it bad enough.” Your body is having a natural Guam reaction. And we’re all slowly waking up to create a more compassionate and open world.