theaspirationalmind.com
Anxiety Explored
Anxiety After Trauma
Our Subconscious Protects Us
PTSD, childhood family traumas, and traumas as repeating strong memories and fears all point to a need for specialist professional advice for long-term benefit. Dealing with deep trauma is beyond the limits of the self-care guidance available here except in a very general manner.
When we experience high or overwhelming levels of fear then our subconscious can try to protect us into the future, as best it can, by greatly increasing our memories of and our focus on particular circumstances and situations. When these circumstances or situations appear again, even just as part of our own thinking process, our subconscious may raise fears and old memories and feelings in order to warn us of potential danger. The problem is that these warnings may appear to our logical thinking as misplaced, scary, and debilitating. The intense feelings coming from old traumas can seem very real even when we have more or less forgotten about the original events, and this can lead to an increase in our anxiety levels.
One key, to reduce this effect once we have determined that this is what might be going on, is to focus on the thoughts, feelings, and memories that are being replayed by our subconsconscious mind and also remember that what happened in the past need not adversely impact us in the present and should not have us over-protecting against living a full life into the future.
I suggest that you speak to your subconscious mind, in whatever way that you can, and tell it that the past does not predict the future. Tell it that, although there are no guarantees in life, the chances of the past being repeated are really, really, low. Tell your subconscious mind that you appreciate it trying to protect you and that you no longer want the feelings, thoughts, and memories from your own past holding you back from living the life that you want.
Pragmatically you can also work on specific fears that are likely to play out for you when you are under the influence of past traumas. You may benefit from reading the 'Anxiety Fears' or 'Anxiety Worrying' sections.
Return