The Facts: There Are No Blanket Behavioral Responses To Trauma, Toxic Stress, And/Or Adversity
Though the initial autonomic reaction of hyperinflammatory defense (that causes fight, flight, freeze, etc) is common amongst all who experience trauma, different people experience different things that cause trauma, and, these different people, with their different traumas, go through (and respond to) their different traumas differently.
Healing, however, always comes with body-mind alignment.
And transcendence comes through spiritual integration and/or understanding.
Different people have different support systems, coping mechanisms, internal and external resources, predispositions, personal ethics/values, personalities, levels of tolerance for stress/distress, biology, genetics, histories, understandings, and so forth, and, therefore, no two trauma responses, or outcomes, are the same.
Have I made that point clear enough yet, or do I need to use the word different one more time?
Simply put: there are no fixed trauma “looks,” responses, nor outcomes. Everyone is unique and so is their experience of trauma and everything else in life (though similarities [which implies that things are not the same] may certainly sometimes exist in different people). The only things that remain the same in different experiences of trauma are a) the fact that healing is triggered the moment that overwhelm takes place, and b) the fact that healing is complete the moment that one gets aligned in/with his/her Self.
Honoring Your Uniqueness
If you ever experience overwhelming distress of any kind, simply work out your psychophysical dysregulation in a healthy way that is suitable for you.
Your personal trauma responses and/or coping mechanisms are not the end all be-all. And, you are not limited to any fate (response or outcome) based on anyone else’s responses or behaviors to either their own traumas or to their observation of anyone else’s trauma.
Always remember that you are best served taking full control of, and responsibility for, your own inner state once biology has done its initial work of automatically kicking in to protect you from overwhelming distress (no matter how uncomfortable it may be).
You can regulate your dysregulation, soothe yourself back to balance, rest effectively to allow your body-mind to heal, and you can become calm enough to access higher functioning parts of your brain and make effective decisions.
After trauma/stress overwhelm your system, remember that the antidote is to safely relax, release, restore, and build resilience for better responses and outcomes.
Strive to not allow any long-term automatic tensions/hyperinflammatory reactions remain in your body-mind after you create distance from what triggered your trauma response. Over-extended trauma responses can lead to habitual patterns that create damage to your body-mind systems.
After any stressful event or experience occurs in your life, let your shock and tension gradually reduce by remaining grounded in your Self and the Higher Truth, and use proven techniques and methodologies to regain homeostasis. This will minimize your potential to remain in a state of panic, which can lead to making destructive and impulsive decisions in an attempt to avoid imminent and/or future danger/pain (even when no danger is present), wasting energy that could be used for healing and positive movement forward.
Using Everything As An Opportunity For Learning And Growth, Healing, And Liberation
Know that you are always eternally protected and safe, even in moments when this is not the case for your body-mind in the ever-changing, corruptible, distortion of Maya/the fleeting appearance of ever-changing form and the world. The eternal, Absolute Truth is unchanging and ever-present, despite appearances, and you will be alright no matter what happens to your body or your mind. Additionally, both your body and your mind will heal with time and proper care–they are created to heal and that is why you had a trauma response in the first place. Autonomic trauma reactions are a defense/protective mechanism; they only become destructive when you overidentify with them as opposed to moving beyond them.
Your body-mind might experience shock and pain while going through life within Maya, and, in your over-identification with your body-mind as who you are, confusing the experience of living in this world in your body-mind as the ultimate reality, you might forget who you are in spirit and freak out. This is “normal” until you outgrow your ignorant identification with temporary form.
Look within to your eternal Spirit, and to your values. Look to your higher understandings, and to your conscience for what is best for your healing and positive movement forward (and ignore all other noise that does not align with the higher Truth that comes forth from within).
And, always remember that, if your choices are unhealthy and/or unethical for any reason or at any time (meaning that they go against your ultimate wellbeing, personal values, and/or universal values), do not blame your trauma, instead, blame the distortions within you that your trauma brought up and/or highlighted for you to address and rectify. When you face your pain with honesty, you can effectively heal, and then grow into the purest expression of your unbounded, untainted, Self. And this occurs only when you drop everything that gets in the way–even when your distortions are “just” “common” ones, like focusing on negativity as opposed to staying grounded in the eternal Truth.
Trauma will most likely “shake you up,” and cause your illusions to shatter. Use these moments of disarray to identify and clear away your personal disfunctions (which again, are unique to you, so do not go looking for them to appear like those textbook distortions and think that you are clear because you don’t have “those” problems). If you are suffering and/or in despair, you can still do some letting go, clearing and/or healing. Align with the Truth of who you are beyond experience and form and become completely free.
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