Emotional charges in the nervous system

Each time we experience an event that overwhelms our capacity to cope, an electrical charge, or short circuit, is created in our nervous system. It doesn't matter if fight, flight or freeze generated the charge, what's important is that the charge be released from our nervous system as soon as possible.

There are many reasons this doesn't happen; developmental stage, not being co-regulated, not knowing how, being too "civilised" and so on.

Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) dissolves these emotional charges in our nervous system by tapping on various parts of the body. One reason (of many) that EFT works, is that the crystalline structure of the collagen molecules that make up our connective tissue or fascia is a semiconductor. Semiconductors are not only able to conduct energy, they are also able to conduct information. By tapping on the acupressure points contained within our fascia, piezoelectric signals are sent throughout the nervous system (which includes our brain) and dissolve the charge. The really fascinating thing though is that EFT also works even if you imagine tapping on the points!I think this is because our intention when we tap, or do any work, is really important.

Each memory, or trauma/dissociation capsule as Robert Scaer phrases it, can have several emotional charges and each memory will contain distinct details. By working on the details of a memory/capsule; a narrative, body sensations etc. you can dissolve the charges that are disrupting and disregulating your nervous system. With EFT you can work with implicit or explicit memory, you do not have to have a narrative for EFT to be effective. It can work with no talking whatsoever.

The more undissolved charges we have in our nervous system, the more adverse effects on our physical and mental health. These 'charges' divert energy away from healing to just coping and surviving which is no way to live and thrive. It is like trying to keep beach balls submerged under water all the time, it is absolutely exhausting.

The nervous system is like a giant electrical grid that connects all organs and all systems in the body with the brain ~ Gabor Maté

What's worse?

Many of us are emotionally starving for what Robert Stolorow calls a 'relational home': another human being who can hold a space for us to feel what we feel and be who we are in that moment.

Instead, what many of us get are shaming messages; what we feel and who we are is wrong.

There is such a strong phobia of "negative" emotions at the moment. If you have or feel an emotion on the "negative" list, you're vibrating too low, or you're dragging everyone else down. It's all about positivity, but a fake and forced positivity which is absolutely exhausting.

Emotions come and go, if we let them. We will never reach a point where we'll have gotten rid of fear, anger or jealousy forever. That's not supposed to happen because emotions have a purpose. Fear can be life saving, anger can help us set boundaries and jealousy can show us what we really want.

Do you know what's worse than feeling a so-called low vibration emotion? Repressing, suppressing, disowning, denying and pushing away your emotions. Worse in the sense that you'll have to meet these disowned emotions sooner or later. In the meantime the body takes them on for us, patiently waiting for us to feel them, only that never happens for some of us, so our system starts to overflow with symptoms because it can only take so much.

Our shadow is where we shove all the stuff we don't want to be, see, feel or what others found distasteful in us, especially when we were children. But the shadow doesn't go away, it only gets bigger the more we disown it.

We can see evidence of the individual and collective shadow everywhere at the moment and it ain't pretty, but looking away isn't going to help. We need to dive deeper. Our lives depend on it.

One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious ~ Carl Jung