I find it astonishing how we can all resonate with each others' problems without even knowing we have the same issues we need to attend to. That we have the same basic psyche, even if we do experience them individually, we still share mutual traumas and hold painful issues we all relate to.
For sometime now I've been hearing clients, friends (and myself) saying that they can't sleep well, that they have "zero energy", feeling this 'heavy energy' dragging them down, they are consuming more coffee, 'zombing' in front of the screen until sun rise, waiting impatiently for the weekend so they can sleep for hours - but they are still tired on Monday...
I will suggest here a few perspectives, and would love to hear what you have to say abou it.
My first thought would (naturally) be: Oh, this is a 'survival' strategy, and a very well known one - sleeping as a coping mechanism, or lack of, so we can dissociate from tough times which triggered our early and late traumas. So we turn on the screen so that blue light and addictive sliding never stops. Yes...could be. No arguing there regarding the screens.. we should disconnect at least one hour before bed and never let them in our bedrooms - not even kindle. This type of strategy is fairly used at these times of psychological warfare in our lives, also at a time of physical war for some of us - like my loved ones in Israel (I also recognize, of course, the suffer of Ukrainians and Russians and Arabs (in Syria and Gaza, Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan) and whoever is dealing with terror and war on earth. WANTING TO DISCONNECT IS PART OF COPING.
My second thought is - Ok, but there are many clients and friends on other places of earth who do not reside in war zones right now and are not suffering any type of attacks. Just plain "Janes & Joes" with 'normal' lives who are complaining and suffering the same symptoms. So what could be the reason for their insomnia and lack of energy? Yes, these wars and horrors are being broadcasted nonstop and can trigger survival strategies for anyone, anywhere. So it can be something much bigger like a theory of 'one shred of consciousness' we all share - that could be.
And then a third perspective enters my thoughts. I am trying to find a name to it, and I came up with 'The Hyper-Stress trauma syndrome'. Hear me out:
In past few months I find a repeating issue which arises many times during IoPT and FC sessions - this issue tiredness and exhaustion is usually pinned to a young part. This exhaustion resurfacing as a lack of RESTNESS. Lack of being able just to REST, lay down peacefully and being watched, nurtured, take cared of, attended to and RELAXED. These young parts would state and resonate a very distressed feeling of need to be alert. An unsafe environment for them in.
This was for my colleagues and me, a very groundbreaking realization. We find more and more that these STRESSED FEELINGS and EXPERIENCES as a baby, (even in the womb), would be almost devastating for them. The young part feeling the need of holding 'unsafe vibe', or feeling 'alarmed aloneness', or experiencing the lack of being seen as a basic need - all apparently have a huge impact on us. These FEELINGS and EXPERIENCES eventually cause hormone changes in our body - and become embedded in our cells and psyche from a very young age. I would assume than these experiences eventually would affect our physical body. Years of stress accumulation would bring our body to a state of exhaustion as the cells do not know how to relax. Changing the conditioned state of lack of trust and rest would be harder and harder as we grow old. This would leave people who come from traumatized systems (familial or national) susceptible to stressful related chronic conditions, such as insomnia, later on in life.
Holding our early versions with all the love, nurture, care and love can be healing in so many levels apparently. Giving the phrase 'sleeping like a baby' a hole new feel and meaning.
Can you remember any situation where you needed someone to rest your head on someone's shoulder? Situations where you wanted to be held and just relax? Tell me about it.
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