Every Time You Avoid Challenging Emotions, You Simultaneously Limit Your Access to Joy, Love and Happiness.
There’s a lot of talk about dysregulated nervous system and how to get rid of these symptoms of anxiety, procrastination, overwhelm, stress etc. But the other side of the coin is what you receive when your nervous system is able to flexibly move between different states and back to safety. When your nervous system is not in survival or protection mode, you’re able to access a whole range of feelings that are much harder to access within these dysregulated states.
According to the Polyvagal Theory the vagus nerve is divided between 2 branches. One of these branches is the social engagement system which allows you to experience the belonging, love, fulfilment and safety in connection to others.
And if your system does not move flexibly back to this state because it’s dysregulated, you may be feeling challenged to be fully present in your experiences. It can also feel challenging to let yourself receive the good things in life because receivership means taking a step back and allowing things to come to us. It requires trust and surrender which is not something you can easily do when in protection mode.
Growing your capacity is not only about facing challenging emotions. What’s equally important is your ability to experience joy, love, gratitude and fulfilment.
Growing your capacity is not only about facing challenging emotions. What’s equally important is your ability to experience joy, love, gratitude and fulfilment. Your ability to receive the good and really feel it in your body. This is also tightly linked with your nervous systems capacity to hold and receive.
Dysregulated nervous system is wired for protection and survival which leaves little space for experiencing deep present moment joy, gratitude and fulfilment. The good news is that you can rewire your nervous system and bring the feeling of safety back into your body which makes these emotions available to you in such a different way.
