Healing Through Self-Awareness

You are probably sitting in a chair as you read this. Do you notice the weight of your body as it presses into the chair? You do now that I mention it, right? But most of the time your brain just conveniently tunes out that sensory input.

The brain has the ability to filter out unnecessary information. And, to some degree, you are able to choose what you are aware of. You can choose to put your attention on the parts of your body that are touching the chair.

You can also choose to disconnect from your physical and emotional states. And that can be an important survival mechanism when experiencing trauma. But to maintain this disconnection over time will cost you.

We all experience traumas of varying degree in life. Often, we are unable to fully process those experiences at the time they occur.

I remember when my (then) one-year-old son had a febrile seizure. I needed to think and act quickly. I put all of my own panic and fear aside and dealt with the situation. When the paramedics were gone and my baby was doing fine again, I broke down and had a good cry, which is exactly what I needed to do! Those emotions needed to be expressed and allowed or they would have stayed in my body waiting to be processed.