There is an intimate link between our physiological state and our state of mind. We can be so numb and inactive that we are unable to deal with life’s challenges or so overwrought that we are unable to think clearly. Numbing shuts us off from life. Fight or flight makes us hypervigilant even when there is no present threat.
But there is a ‘window of tolerance’, that range of physiological arousal within which we feel relatively comfortable and can cope with challenges that arise. It is helpful to observe for a while, in real time, the stimuli that have a tendency to trigger either hyper- or hypo- arousal, leading to a dysregulated state of physiology and disturbed state of mind.
Becoming more aware of those triggers allows us to do something that restabilises our system so that we can spend more time within the ‘window of tolerance’ in which we feel comfortable, capable and connected.
