February 15, 2024
It’s amazing how powerful having language can be. The disconnect between how you are acting and understanding why, can be hindered just by not having the correct verbiage. If I’d had an understanding of the word “hypervigilance” in my youth, it would’ve saved me so much time. Trying to explain what it was that I was doing could only be described as overthinking, but that is just a symptom.
I would spend so much time day dreaming of situations that I felt I had to prepare for - you know, just in case all hell broke loose. Rehearsing lines to a play that I hated, but I needed to understudy my safety. I would sometimes get so engulfed in these thoughts that my body would respond and react based on the intensity of the thought. It’s no wonder anxiety found me. I trained myself to expect the worst. Heck, I practiced for it.
“I spent hours upon hours in a universe that I didn’t have to live in. “
Hypervigilance — the elevated state of constantly assessing potential threats around you — is often the result of a trauma. People who have been in combat, have survived abuse, or have posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can exhibit hypervigilance.
Hypervigilance can look like:
- Anxiousness
- Excessive fault-finding
- Not being able to be present
- Not trusting what is being said
- Forcing isolation
- Insistent need to know everything
Uncertainty can create insecurity in some. That was the case for me. In fact if I’m honest it’s still something I’m working through. Learning to be ok with not knowing all the factors; learning all of the faculties of trust and surrender can be challenging if you've spent the majority of your existence forging safety.
the ROOT of this problem. We can chat about how having to predict your parents mood by controlling the environment is one. My parents weren’t violent but they were angry. I could predict what would make them angry and fix it before it happened. I’m sure there are countless versions of this scenario, some not as pleasant to discuss. However your story starts, insert it here. Even still, your perception of those events and behaviors that you anchored in because of them is what needs to be uprooted. We can remove the memories, or culprits can confess and plead for forgiveness, but what will yield lasting change is acknowledging the behaviors that we allow to take root, and changing them.
Common Tools:
- Therapy - having a non biased sounding board can work wonders for your self examination
- Meditation - I recommend this as a component of all healing, however, this comes in handy with changing behaviors.
- Body movement - Yoga or stretching is a good practice to move things out of the body
- Deep breathing - Taking the time to be present and slow down is powerful simplicity at its finest. Now that you have the language to understand the behavior, you talk to yourself in a calmer state.
- Self hypnosis: using relaxing methods to move your mind into a hypnotic state. There are tons of resources on this available on the internet.
Metaphysical tools:
- Sigil work - creating powerful magical sigils to cause a shift in your being.
- Mirror work - Confront yourself and your younger versions of yourself with hard hitting affirmations and apologies.
- Inner child work - Talk to your inner child, see what they need and want from you to rectify the issue.
- Healing session - Get an empathic healing session and have some of your trauma and memories removed from your body.
- Cleansing - In some rare cases, a cleansing may be needed to help you rid yourself of some attachments causing the anxiety.
Our current emotional state of being can be the block. Sometimes we are oblivious to our vibrations or frequency because we are so consumed with surviving. We have become numb to how we are when we haven’t taken the time to assess why we are the way that we are. It’s important to create a routine in which you take time to become aware of your own presence. Slow down your thoughts and breath; take time to assess how you are being at this moment. I talk a bit about starting a routine in my free e-book Empath’s guide to Self-Mastery. It’s vital to carve out space for the real you on this path.
As always, be gentle with yourselves.
