How I healed from past pain & trauma
disclaimer: I am by no means a mental health professional this is what has worked for me! I am simply sharing my experience. Please seek appropriate help if you need to.
This is what has changed my life truly!!! Without these tools and learning these things, I would not be where I am today. My trauma healing journey began over 6 years ago now. This journey takes time and patience but it is SO worth it! I’ve healed a lot from my childhood pain & trauma but when I hit burnout in my life a few years back… It opened up A LOT more depth of things I needed to heal & work on. Cheers to always learning, growing and healing! What has helped me 👇🏼🫶🏻
1. I learned how to understand when I am triggered and learned how to validate myself (and my younger me) + show myself compassion
- What is a trigger?
A trigger is something that sets off a memory or flashback bringing you back to the event of your original trauma. Even if you're not thinking of your past in the moment. Trauma doesn’t have to be a huge event that took place; it could be really small (something as simple as you feeling alone as a kid can be traumatic)
Our triggers are created from our childhood from unresolved and unhealed trauma and emotion. One’s reaction to the trigger is coming from the kid in you who experienced the emotion! Showing my younger self compassion & love and/or going back to that moment in my memory as a kid and loving on my younger self has helped me heal.
I worked with a handful of counselors/life coaches/therapists to help me heal my inner child wounds and go back to painful memories in my past. They taught me how to reparent myself as well as many of my childhood woulds were rooted in my needs not getting met as a child from my parents and home environment.
2. I learned how to regulate my nervous system & learned the autonomic ladder
The autonomic ladder provides a framework for understanding how the autonomic nervous system responds to stress & danger and how these responses affect our behavior and emotion regulation.
It’s really hard to heal past pain & trauma if you aren’t also regulating your nervous system!
Understanding the autonomic ladder has helped me understand which state I’m in so that I can navigate that and heal.
Deb Dana has written a book called Anchored & Polyvagal Theory in Therapy which are great reads if you’re interested.
The healing journey is ongoing but I am so grateful I was introduced to inner child healing, learning how to reparent myself & learning how to regulate my nervous system. I hope this post is inspirational in the fact that healing is possible! I share a lot about physical health as this is my area of expertise but holistic health encompasses the body, mind & soul. We can’t neglect the other parts of health & hopefully this post is an educational light for you 💕
#lemon8partner #safespace #traumahealing #traumahealingjourney #mentalhealthawareness
Healing from past trauma is a deeply personal journey that can transform one's life. It often begins with understanding and recognizing personal triggers; a trigger can evoke memories of traumatic events that aren't always at the forefront of our minds. Learning how to acknowledge and validate these feelings is crucial for healing. Working with therapists, life coaches, or counselors can provide invaluable support. These professionals can guide individuals toward reparenting their inner child and helping them process unresolved childhood wounds, which often stem from unmet needs. By fostering compassion for one's younger self, many find solace and the beginnings of emotional healing. Another essential aspect of trauma recovery is the regulation of the nervous system. The autonomic ladder is a helpful framework to understand how our bodies respond to stress and how this affects our emotions. Healing can be particularly challenging if one does not address nervous system dysregulation. Various practices, such as deep breathing exercises, somatic therapy, mindfulness, and tapping, can help regulate emotions and promote a sense of safety and calm. Literature on the subject, including works by Deb Dana, provides further insights into polyvagal theory and its applications in therapy. As one progresses through their healing journey, it’s essential to remember that it is ongoing. By incorporating holistic health practices that nurture the body, mind, and spirit, healing becomes not just possible but a path toward a more fulfilled life.
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