This blog post is a continuation from the blog post of April 8, 2019, on Numbing And Avoiding. It deals with trauma self-protection.
For those of us that have been through abuse, rape, or other horrible experiences, trauma self-protection by numbing and avoiding was most likely the way we made it through those moments. It was the way we protected ourselves when there was little else we could do. It was the way we endured experiences that no person should have to endure, especially a child. In moments like this, we numb and avoid so we can make it in our lives.
Unfortunately, after these events are over (if trauma self-protection ever ends), we’re left to pick up the pieces. No one teaches us skills in how to deal with this, so we suffer from numbing and avoiding in silence. Through therapy, if we find the courage to go through healing, we begin to deal with the devastation that left an impact on our lives.
When we go through rough experiences in life, trauma self-protection of numbing and avoiding is meant as a temporary moment, not something that should stay with us for a long time to come. While we may work on overcoming how we think and view things, these experiences don’t go away easily. Instead they inhabit the body from a cellular level connected by the neural pathways to the brain.
Beyond Our Ability To Endure
We’ve all had those moments that were beyond our ability to endure. It doesn’t have to be child abuse because any abuse or horrible experiences can cause the same scenario. Trauma self-protection becomes the norm. It might be something you witnessed, or it could even be the buildup of toxic stress in your life. Toxic stress can be just as harmful on the body and the mind as trauma. In my view, there is very little difference.
However, if we don’t go in and deal with this stuff from a body-based felt-sense moment, the numbing and avoiding is controlling us. Trauma self-protection is what is calling the shots. It will hold us hostage in life until we fully explore and dive into the mind body connection.
Trauma Self-Protection Danger Zone
I see many trying to train their thoughts only to think a certain way about horrible experiences. Yes, I understand that this may get you out of the danger zone and more into the empowerment zone. If you want to heal those deep recesses, it is highly important that you travel into the felt sense of the body. When you do this, it is where deep healing happens.
The more you can go in and heal from this place, the more likely it is that you begin to truly wake up. As you go into healing, trauma self-protection is something that no longer works for you. Awareness and consciousness take on an entirely new level. It will bring freedom from a depth you have never experienced.
I understand that it is not easy to wake up in this way, as I too struggled many years numbing and avoiding in my life. The thing is, I’ve traveled far enough to see the other side and I know it exists. Most people in this world do not get this, but it is there if we dare to climb that tall mountain.
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