A few signs of having more capacity in your system
In the somatic healing circles there is much talk about building capacity. You may hear the words resilience, interchangeably, to explain the same phenomenon.
Building capacity is one of the many aspects of your healing and the somatic work.
So here are a few signs to notice in yourself to gauge your own “progress” in your path.
Please note that this list is not exhaustive. These are only pointers and loose basic examples. There is much more nuance into your unique nervous system and your window of tolerance.
🌿 You are able to stay more in your body when experiencing uncomfortable sensations, without resorting to your old patterns of survival strategies.
🌿 You are more able to notice small changes in your body during or/and after they happen.
🌿 You notice triggers much faster and sometimes you can even notice them in real time.
🌿 You may sometimes or even many times, still resort to your old coping mechanisms to deal with uncomfortable emotions/sensations. But you have full awareness that you are doing it, either while it’s happening or in hindsight.
🌿 You set boundaries and say NO according to how something feels in your body.
🌿 You are able to deal with anxiety using your resources, and is often able to help your system come down from it.
🌿 You can use pendulation (navigating between comfortable or neutral sensations and uncomfortable sensations) in your own time, while going through a trigger.
🌿 You feel grounded and safe, after a trigger, much sooner than you used to.
🌿 You are able to notice a freeze or shutdown state coming in and snap out of it before it “highjacks” your system.
Where you are at now in your journey may look and feel different than described above. Healing is unique to each individual and “progress” is made in many different ways.
Please note that some of these examples are found in more “advanced” levels of healing.
So please don’t take this list too seriously and continue to commit to your healing as you have already been doing.
