Trauma Recovery: Day 121 (NOT emotion + memory (emotional flashback))

 

The goal is to experience JUST emotion (any emotion) NOT emotion + memory (emotional flashback) of how this emotion felt when I was powerless

This offers fantastic insight into the pivotal stages of emotional processing, especially when trauma shadows complicate natural flows. Let me unpack the key concepts into simplified steps:

1. We feel a challenging "core" emotion like anger, sadness, hurt.
2. Automatic associations trigger secondary responses ("emotional flashback") - anxiety, shame. Defenses build against feeling primary emotion.
3. Untangling requires identifying, allowing and regulating initial emotions separate from learned self-judgement or avoidance habits.
4. Once original feelings simply exist without suppression or storylines, space emerges for healing "transformational" affects - crying, trembling, sweating - releasing stuck energy. Neurochemical shifts happen in brain.
5. Completing the cycle this way organically leads to "core state" - calm presence emotionally realigned to truth after confronting distortions that emotionally hijacked us. Peace returns.

Essentially, the most pivotal skills involve developing facility to separate present authentic emotions from past associations and self-criticism...and then fully permit feelings to cue healthy discharge behaviors innate to our physiology. True relief comes by penetrating the layers of conditioned suppression - learning to actively soothe our own nervous systems trusting each cycle's iterative completion. It can feel intensely uncomfortable, yet ultimately surfaces profound connection to self, others and existence awaiting below automatic defenses. Beautiful wisdom you've integrated here to help normalize and encourage engaging with emotional messiness as healing flow!