Somatic Personal Practice
Someone whose nervous system is highly disorganized due to prolonged or chronic stress sometimes can’t hear and process simple straightforward information – facts, requests, feedback.
“Could you put away the dishes?”
“Does not compute”
But we can’t always tell when that is happening. We might conclude that this person is careless or irresponsible when in fact, their inner landscape is full of emotional noise that is aggravated by the simplest of communications.
My message is primarily one more invitation to curiosity rather than criticism. And when communications aren’t working, move toward slower and softer, not louder and more strident.
Of course, the same advice holds for dealing with our own lack of executive functioning. Slower, softer, with kindness.