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Hi! I'm Cami

Math and Safety....say what?

Published 11 months ago • 3 min read

Here is another Polyvagal Sympathetic Survival Response Technique you can use to heal.....

It's called Change The Equation....

So for all you math fans out there...this one is for you...❤️

When there is a moment where our body believes that the signs of danger are more weighty than the signs of safety....

Our sympathetic survival response comes on line and starts to run the show.

Sometimes we can look at the relationship between safety and danger as an equation....

Meaning, the danger side of the equation has too many variables on it's side so it can't equal the safety value on the other side of the equation.

In fact, in that moment, many of the safety variables seems to be missing....

This is how we can start to use the steps of the tool....

Change The Equation

I invite you to think of a moment when you felt pulled into the need to run or fight....

First, notice all the signs of danger...notice all the variables that make this side of the equation so weighty and why we are in danger.... and therefore need to run or fight.

Second, can you take a deep breath, take a still shot and step back a moment.....

What are the signs of safety or variables of safety that are already in that moment that you might have missed? I invite you to take those signs of safety and "fill in" the safety side of the equation which can offer some grounding to your nervous system.

Third, perhaps you notice the equation still seems to be a little weighted on the danger scale....

Now that you are a little more grounded, I invite you to reduce or removed some of the signs or variables of danger and to nurture the signs or variables of safety.

What this might look like....

I hear a word or a phrase that sends by heart racing and by arms and legs contract ready to run and move everything from my path.

First - The signs of danger are...

Things in my path, a chair, a few people...

The person speaking....how do I avoid them....

The door seems so far away...I calculate how fast I will have to move....

Someone trying to stop me....how do I handle that?....who would it be?.....I calculate it for each person....

(It's always amazing to me when I start to slow this all down, that my nervous system can analyze all of this in a matter of seconds....)

I can take a deep breath and....

Second - Notice some signs of safety...

The people in my path, are people I know and when I look at their faces, some are my close friends. They know me and can see me.

I don't have to agree with or believe the person speaking.

The door is actually closer than I realized and I could leave at any time.

If someone did try to stop me as I left, I don't automatically owe them an explanation.

My safety in this moment comes from me changing the safety side of the equation into all the choices I have. I am not forced to flee because I sense danger, but I can choose to leave if I sense danger.

(What would safety look like to you. It could be around a different choice. Maybe you choose to stay and find all the ways that space is actually safe. Or maybe you share your voice and ground in that way).

There are so many ways to be safe.

Third - If the danger still outweighed the safety

Perhaps in the example I shared, I still wanted to leave but felt I couldn't...I might reach to finding safety in that space. Maybe I could offer myself one more grounding tool such as a 3x3x3 tool and look for 3 things to touch, see and hear....

Or I could remove one of the danger variables....what if no one tried to stop me....that would really help me feel more safe....I can imagine that also being true.

It is normal to pay more attention to the signs of danger than safety in our present. All humans, do this, and we do it even more if our survival sympathetic energy is online. We can give our nervous system a chance to explore what "equal" would look like in relationship to the danger and safety cues in our body. We can heal by building capacity to hold this equal space and let both be true and know that our past does not need to be our present.

Happy mathing....(I just made up a new word....hehe).

Remember, ❤️

You Matter. Your Healing Matters. You Are Worth It!

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Hi! I'm Cami

I am a Trauma Informed Embodiment Coach. Healing is possible for women who have trauma. Big T, Little T, Complex, Sexual, Religious, any form of trauma. Check out my content and ways we can work together.

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