Day 6 Once you see it, you can't unsee it

Today, I journaled about an extremely stressful event that happened about ten years ago. I could really feel all the emotions coming back again, and I could feel them in my body. The tightening in my throat, the elephant sitting on my chest, the queasy feeling in my stomach, the weird feeling behind my face, I just tried to FEEL it and let it wash over me. It was hard. In fact, it was horrible. It got worse and worse, and then, very slowly, the tension started to dissipate. Slowly, slowly, and I could feel my shoulders relax as well. I finished up my writing, and I felt pretty good about myself.

As I got up from my chair, I felt a horrible cramp racking my whole body, one of the worst I've ever had. I felt panic creeping up, from my belly to my throat, slowly choking me, and the cramps got even worse, when suddenly I realised that my brain was playing tricks on me. And not very subtly, either! Here I am, I've just finished my journaling, felt some intense emotions, and my brain is saying DO NOT EVER DO THAT AGAIN! But I saw through it. So I sat down again, very carefully, and told myself it was OK. Really, really OK. Breathe in, breathe out.

I just got up. No cramps, just some mild pain. I am OK. My back is OK. My whole body is OK. And my brain will be OK too.

Once you see it, you can't unsee it.

 

Beautiful experience, and your expression of it. You made the connection. This is very powerful regardless of immediate symptom relief. You're focusing on the right thing, which is seeing it clearly, and understanding the process. The rest will take care of itself in time.