3 Steps from fear to flow

Are you constantly swinging between states of agitation and overwhelm? Do you dream of finding a state of easy, relaxed, focused energy but it just feels out of reach?

Your nervous system is like a car. It has:

• a gas pedal (Your adrenals)

• a brake pedal (vagal brake)

• and a separate e-brake (freeze state)

When we’re in a relaxed state, it’s like coasting downhill. Gravity does most of the work, and we learn how to gently steer and apply enough brakes that we feel in control without a lot of effort.

When we come. to a straightaway, we need to apply a little gas. When we come to a hill, we need to apply a lot of gas. But when we get to the top of the hill, we take our foot off the gas and start coasting and applying the brake again.

HOWEVER….

Sometimes we spend so long driving uphill that our body forgets what it’s like to coast.

We’ve gotten so used to having our foot on the gas and we’ve gotten so out of touch with our environment that when we reach the top of the hill, we keep the gas pedal to the floor. So then we’re zooming downhill, rapidly picking up speed and spiraling out of control. When we start to panic, we slam on the e-brake and screen to a halt. Then we panic again because we’re stopped in the middle of the road, and we jam on the gas again - with the e-brake still engaged.

Now even straightaway we need to keep our gas on full throttle if we want to get anywhere. We might stay in this state with our e-brake engaged and our foot on the gas for years until we’re exhausted and literally burnt out.

Meanwhile, we look around and see other people zooming around with excitement, charging up mountains and coasting down and we wonder… What’s wrong with me? Why can’t I do that?

YOU CAN! You just need to re-learn three basic skills for navigating with your nervous system:

• How and when to use your gas pedal (your adrenals)

• The difference between your e-brake (freeze state) and your regular breaks (vagal brake)

• How to maintain control of your steering wheel while coasting (self-regulation in a flow state)