Have you ever had a situation where you're in the middle of a heated argument and you're angry and you're certain that your way is the right way or maybe the only way?
And then after things calm down,
You see things from a much different perspective that takes into account the other person's feelings,
The bigger picture.
And you realize that what you thought to be true and absolute may not be so solid and true after all.
That's your autonomic nervous system,
Shifting out of survival mode,
Out of threat mode,
Coming back into balance.
When that happens,
When our physiology changes,
We can access a whole different set of resources to help us problem solve,
See more clearly,
Have more compassion,
And feel more connected to others and to ourselves.
We don't have to wait for this to happen on its own.
And we also don't have to push away our feelings,
Trying to force them away or fight them away.
When we can learn to meet ourselves right where we are.
As a starting point.
And we can understand the ways that our nervous system tries to protect us in these reflexive,
Adaptive ways.
This can empower us.
And from there,
We can learn ways to settle and soothe our nervous system.
We can have some agency over the signals that are sent.
From our body up to our brain.
Letting it know that there's no real emergency.
Looking back out from there from a more regulated nervous system,
Things begin to look very different.