As one walks the path of trauma to intentionally sink in deeper within one’s safety nest of the nervous system and the body, one consciously and/or unconsciously engages in gathering the fragmented parts of one’s authentic self.
This constant walk of meeting trauma, some days we drag ourselves through, other days we crawl and at times, we knee in agony as the walk happens and deepens within us.
As our relating to our sense of safety inside and within changes and evolves, so does our relating with the external world. what we see, feel, hear, perceive, witness and experience as safety evolves the more deeper we sink into safety within our nervous system, our body and our somatic and cognitive experiences of life.
What we once identified as unsafe then evolves into something else.
One powerful question that I have been sharing in my group and personal sessions are:
“Am I safe right here right now?”
As you pause to read these words, “Am I safe right here right now?”
This “now” refers to right here right now, not the next minute or hour or day.
This simple question has the power to eject us out of our cognitive distortions, out of our drama, out of our sense of unsafety, out of sense of something bad is about to happen.
As we begin to become aware that we are safe right here right now, if we pause long enough to ease physically through the breaths, we are teaching ourselves at all levels that safety is experienced and held.
|Pause and Breathe Deep|
Breath-in deep and Breath-out slow.
Repeat this cycle for at least 10times
And the more we move into this practice, the more our relating with our inner world, our nervous system, our body, our cognitive world ease out, change and transform.
This easing out enhances the quality of change that will keep reverberating through within us and hence impacting our relating with the external world.
The reminiscences of our past ways of “being” and “doing” linger for some time which is why many of us will still cringe when old situations repeat in new contexts with same persons or new persons.
I experience this cringing as the call for deep compassion for our system that has grown into protecting us and it’s investment in protecting will take time to ease out and we play a huge role in this act of easing out.
Here is an invitation, as we walk to reclaim those fragmented part of our authentic selves through our embodiment of safety, we have an opening to summon curiosity in experiencing “that which “ we have been used to with new eyes, ears, hands, legs, heart, mind and being.
This movement is about coming heart to heart, body to body, nervous system to nervous system to “that which” we called and named “familiar unsafe” through new eyes, ears, hands, legs, heart, mind and being. This experience comes into being through curiosity, walking through this process,
“What if there is more that I am yet to see, hear, feel and witness?
What if there is more than the quality of unsafety?”
And the inner whispers,
“With my embodied safety and inner resilience, I stand on my grounds as I face that which I have called and named “familiar”. I have changed and I bring my changed self to this meeting.”
For many of us, we will not be open to, willing to and ready to bring our changed-self to this meeting of “that what” we have called and named as “familiar unsafe”. This is path to be honored and hold as sacred.
We are in constant change, so is life and so are people around us.
As we deepen our path to reclaiming and holding those fragmented parts of our authentic self, our sense of safety changes and deepens. We start experiencing a different quality of presence and grounding.
If we dare even for a second to bring that changed-self to what we have called and named “familiar unsafe”, we may be surprised that through our walk, this ‘familiar unsafe” no more holds power upon us.
We are in constant change, so is life and so are people around us.
Who you were at the beginning of this write-up is no more the same at the end of this write-up.
Who I was at the beginning of my musing is no more same.
I have changed through these words and I bring this changed-self as I return heart to heart, body to body, nervous system to nervous system facing the “familiar unsafe”.
Love from my heart to yours
Love from my body to yours
Love from my nervous system to yours
Megha Venketasamy
Graphic Works @ NyameDua 2021
Post © Megha Venketasamy, 2021. All rights reserved.
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