Betrayal Trauma Trigger Management: Soothing with Your Senses

When you are in crisis, you are so overwhelmed that you're rarely able to listen to instincts and intuition. In crisis, you will feel even more confused, paralyzed, and sometimes at higher risk of getting hurt.

Since regaining intuition is so important, we will discuss a few ways to help you get to a calm and peaceful space where you can listen to your inner voice.

Below are some examples of common healthy and unhealthy tactics for self-soothing:

Healthy Self-Soothing Tactics:

• Deep breathing
  
• Exercise
  
• Reading a good book
  
• Prayer and meditation
  
• Scheduling time alone to meditate
  
• Laughing
  

Unhealthy Tactics to Self-Soothe:

• Absorbing yourself in problems trying to solve them
  
• Overworking yourself Being cynical toward others
  
• Unhealthy eating: binging/ starvation
  
• Use of alcohol or other substances
• Excessive or lack of sleep

Observing this list, how many of the unhealthy self-soothing tactics do you find yourself implementing when confronted with a tough situation? How often do you implement the healthy self-soothing tactics? It is very common for women experiencing Betrayal Trauma to revert to unhealthy practices in an effort reestablish peace in their own lives. During difficult times it is critical to have healthy strategies to help you find inner peace and confidence. This store of inner peace and confidence will help you through future challenges.

Your senses consist of smell, touch, taste, sight, and sound. Two additional senses that we often forget are kinesthetic and internal senses. Kinesthetic sense is the way your body engages in the outside world. For example: throwing a baseball, dancing, moving, and jumping. Kinesthetic sense occurs when your physical body is engaged. Internal sense involves acuity or keenness to your experience within our bodies. For instance, when you feel anxious, your internal sense responds with a wrenching stomach, increased heart rate and tightening of the lungs.

Your senses are powerful and provide an extremely effective way to take control over your own emotional state. When your senses are engaged in a healthy manner, your attention is taken o the past and future, allowing you to focus on yourself and that present moment. Experiencing life in the present is the key to a calmer self.

We have created a list of items to engage your senses and help focus and calm your mind. Pausing to really engage and hone into your senses will calm your spirit, help you look outside yourself and allow you to focus on the present.

The examples are as follows:

Smell

• Fresh Air Flowers 
  
• A favorite lotion Baking
  

• Envision a peaceful scene
  
• Take deep breaths
  
• Ponder and meditate 
  
• Be still