Each of us has two selves.

The first is the physical self. The earthly self. The body, the brain, the central nervous system. It is built around one thing: survival. Its entire design is oriented toward keeping you safe.

The second is the true self. The spiritual self. Who you are inside. Who you have always been. Who you want to be.

The nervous system gets in the way of a lot of things in life. As it pertains to what we do here, it gets in the way of expressing true health.

When the nervous system is upregulated, when fight or flight is activated, the body locks. Cortisol floods the system. Emergency mode switches on. That response will protect you in the short term. It will not keep you healthy over years and decades.

The reason it does this is simple. It perceives threat. It perceives that you are not safe.

When the brain believes you are in danger, the physical self steps in front of the true self to protect it. That is the design. That is what it was built to do.

Our work, when we encounter someone whose nervous system is standing in the way of releasing chronic pain, is to persuade the physical body that it is safe. That there is nothing left to protect against.

That is straightforward when the threat is something you can see. But what about when it isn't?

What if it's financial?

What if it's social?

What if it's problems at home?

What if it's the weight of your work?

The same physical response occurs. And the physical self will not stand down until it is persuaded, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are safe.

The journey to perceived safety can take on my many forms. But in the case of cognitive threat, the ending is always the same.

That it never needed protecting at all.

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