Somatic Personal Practice
Softening our reactions to our hidden feelings
With Developmental Trauma, we have some set of feelings that are largely hidden or suppressed. Fear, guilt, shame, confusion, anger, abandonment, and so on. And because the feelings are mostly hidden, when they affect us – our demeanors or our behaviors – we often have reactions and judgments.
“I should know better than to act like this!”
“What’s the matter with me!?”
“I need to stop being so stupid!”
Reaching and resolving the original feelings can be a gradual longterm process. But it can sometimes be possible to get a fair bit of relief in a shorter timeframe by reducing and clearing the second layer of feelings.
Compassion, curiosity, acceptance, forgiveness. “No wonder things are difficult for me, look at everything I went through.
No wonder I get scared, confused, distant, angry, and so on.”
It is ok for each of us to be who and how we are. And as we can allow and accept that, or even soften to the possibility of that, then there’s more space to be and more possibility of movement in the deeper layers.