The other day a client asked me how to cultivate a sense of safety in this world that seems increasingly unsafe.
While ultimately this depends on the kind of inner work we do, there are also some very practical, everyday kind of things we can do that will help a lot, and make that inner work more effective.
1.) Avoid watching or reading any corporate media, or even ‘alternative’ news sources if they are a similar vibe. I understand that there is a deeply seated need in many people to be ‘informed’, but the media at this point (and for a long time, but it’s gotten much more intense in the past few years) is a fear-generating machine.
There are billions and billions of human interactions and events every day, and the majority of them are neutral or positive. The media only presents you with the most scary stuff, a lot of which is misinformed if not outright manufactured, or presented in the worst possible light; but even if it weren’t, the narrative presented by the media is a tiny slice of the sum total of human experience, and seems to have an agenda to keep people afraid. So that’s one of the biggest things – stop taking in that poison. Social Media tends to fall in the same camp, unles you’ve cultivated a ‘only nice things’ algorithm (cat videos for the win!)
Denzel Washington once said, ‘if you don’t watch the news you’re uninformed, but if you watch the news you are misinformed’. I agree completely, but I’ll add that actually, there are many ways to be informed that come from the shamanic traditions of relating to the natural world as our primary source of information.
2.) We did not evolve such that our nervous system is able to process an entire world’s worth of events. We aren’t meant to know about everything that’s happening everywhere. Try turning your attention to ‘The Earth’ not ‘The World’. Pay attention to the natural world as much as possible. She tells a very different story than the doom and gloom narrative.
Granted your local environment is actually safe, try to keep your attention local as much as possible – your room, your house, your yard, your street, your neighbourhood. What flowers are blooming? What do they smell like? What’s it like to feel the shade of trees, and to touch their bark? How does the wind feel on your skin? What birds are in the area? Spend time with your bare feet on the grass or dirt, which facilitates beneficial electron exchange.
These are very positive sources of information and are the kinds of things we evolved perceiving and relating to for hundreds of thousands of years, and so they inherently support well-being.
If your environment is objectively NOT safe – if you live in an active war zone, are experiencing a natural disaster, live in a moldy house, or with abusive caretakers or roomates, etc… in all these cases your primary focus should not be trying to heal or do trauma work, but rather to get yourself out of that situation and into a better one as soon as possible.
3.) Connect to other people that feel safe, people you can be authentic with. Avoid as much as possible any and all people and situations that are toxic, especially if they are family members who have a powerful energetic and biological influence.
4.) Finally, learn to pay attention to your internal world, or continue to refine that practice if you are already doing it. Turn your attention to any unresolved trauma you may be holding, which is fundamentally what keeps a person feeling unsafe (granted their environment is objectively safe). Learn to understand it, listen to it, and work with it so that you can cultivate true internal safety and resource that is not shaken by external events.
If you need help with this last piece, then you are in luck!
My wife, Irene, who many of you already know about, has created an entire world of online learning and healing tools. If you have access to a good practitioner that’s also a very good way to go, but they can be hard to find, and many people cannot afford regular private sessions. Irene has created many levels of offerings for those who want to get into this work, from free resources that can help right away, to our intensive, 12 week program, SmartBody SmartMind, which is starting up again in September, and is about the cost of 13 private sessions.
Below are some links to explore if you want to get into, or deepen your study of, this kind of somatic, nervous system-based internal work.
Irene’s YouTube channel – TONS of important info.
Practical Neurosensory Exercises Playlist – DIY tools to start practicing with for free.
Free Resource Center – More free education and tools.
Low Fee Classes – A great selection of live classes and class replays that are a low-cost way to get introduced to this work and Irene’s way of teaching.
SmartBody SmartMind – Irene’s full online nervous system rewire curriculum that teaches you how to nurture your nature and become your own medicine. Its focus is to restore nervous system regulation through polyvagal-informed education and practical neurosensory exercises. The program runs in three levels, starting with SBSM Foundations. Join any time!