Rediscover Your Body's Lost Language

Hi Reader,

💡 Today's Niblit: In "The Body Keeps the Score", Dr. van der Kolk reveals that many trauma survivors lose the ability to sense their own bodies—they can't tell when they're hungry, tense, or even in pain. Rebuilding this "interoceptive" awareness becomes a cornerstone of healing.

🔑 Key Insight: Your body constantly sends signals about your internal state — heart rate changes, muscle tension, gut sensations — but trauma can sever your connection to these vital messages. Many survivors exist in a fog of numbness or live perpetually flooded with anxiety, unable to distinguish between different bodily states or respond appropriately to their needs.

Imagine your body as a sophisticated early warning system, like a smoke detector network throughout a building. When trauma occurs, it's as if some detectors get stuck on high alert while others go completely silent. You might feel overwhelming panic from a gentle touch while missing obvious signs that you haven't eaten in ten hours or that your shoulders are cramped from stress.

This disconnection matters profoundly because your body's signals guide essential decisions—when to rest, when to seek support, when you're truly safe versus when danger lurks. Without this internal compass, you're navigating life without crucial information about your own well-being.

🦉 Nibble of Wisdom: "Being able to feel safe with other people is probably the single most important aspect of mental health." -Chapter 6, The Body Keeps the Score

🛠️ Practical Tip: Practice the "STOP" technique three times daily: Stop what you're doing, Take a breath, Observe your body from head to toe, and Proceed with awareness of what you discovered.

🚀 Quick Action: Set a gentle phone alarm for three random times today. When it rings, spend 30 seconds scanning your body and naming three things you notice — perhaps "tight jaw," "warm hands," or "butterflies in stomach." No judgment, just noticing.

🔍 Further Exploration:

• Reflect on moments when you ignored your body's signals and later regretted it. What might have been different if you'd tuned in earlier?
• Consider starting a simple body awareness journal, noting energy levels, tension spots, or comfort throughout the day.
• Explore the fascinating research on interoception and emotional regulation and how body awareness shapes our emotional lives.

🎬 Wrapup: Your body has been faithfully sending you messages all along. You just need to remember how to listen. This internal dialogue, once restored, becomes one of your most reliable guides to healing and wholeness.

🔗 Links:

• Check out The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk on Amazon
• ​The Body Keeps the Score on Kindle​
• ​The Body Keeps the Score Audiobook​
• ​Read The Body Keeps the Score for FREE​

Tuning in with you,

Tom "learning to decode my inner signals" Bernthal

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