I recently heard a fellow somatic experiencing practitioner describe emotional flashbacks as somatic time travel. Sounds silly but...... it so resonated.
When you're having an emotional flashback - the emotions that 'wake up' are awoken from the moment they were trapped, suppressed or numbed out - so when they come 'online' you feel them from the age they originally happened.
Which is why a grown man or woman can feel like a helpless child when experiencing an emotional flashback.
They're awful to go through - which is why we tend to then isolate - the abuser may be gone but the flashbacks become what we seek to avoid and our world gets smaller and smaller.
I say this because that's exactly what happened with me. I went from being an extrovert, loving life, trying new things all the time, loving people to... someone that isolated and the main emotion that I felt ALL the time was.... fear and a deep felt sense of danger and unsafety - EVEN IF I was safe in the moment. Thank you emotional flashbacks!!
BUT - I will say - they do not have to be a life sentence - not if you're willing to do the inner work to heal them. And the inner work is uncomfortable, it can feel daunting, sometimes seems endless ..... but it is so worth the journey.
I created Thrivers School of Transformation to provide a place where you do not have to take the journey alone!!
In the month of September we will be deep diving into How To Overcome Emotional Flashbacks - here's a link to learn more about Thrivers to see if it might be a good fit for you!! www.micheleleenieves.com/school-of-transformation
Michele Lee Nieves Coaching
I recently heard a fellow somatic experiencing practitioner describe emotional flashbacks as somatic time travel. Sounds silly but...... it so resonated.
When you're having an emotional flashback - the emotions that 'wake up' are awoken from the moment they were trapped, suppressed or numbed out - so when they come 'online' you feel them from the age they originally happened.
Which is why a grown man or woman can feel like a helpless child when experiencing an emotional flashback.
They're awful to go through - which is why we tend to then isolate - the abuser may be gone but the flashbacks become what we seek to avoid and our world gets smaller and smaller.
I say this because that's exactly what happened with me. I went from being an extrovert, loving life, trying new things all the time, loving people to... someone that isolated and the main emotion that I felt ALL the time was.... fear and a deep felt sense of danger and unsafety - EVEN IF I was safe in the moment. Thank you emotional flashbacks!!
BUT - I will say - they do not have to be a life sentence - not if you're willing to do the inner work to heal them. And the inner work is uncomfortable, it can feel daunting, sometimes seems endless ..... but it is so worth the journey.
I created Thrivers School of Transformation to provide a place where you do not have to take the journey alone!!
In the month of September we will be deep diving into How To Overcome Emotional Flashbacks - here's a link to learn more about Thrivers to see if it might be a good fit for you!!
www.micheleleenieves.com/school-of-transformation
1 year ago | [YT] | 1,027