In Love With Life

Feeling safe enough to take the risks of living

“Polyvagal theory is the science of feeling safe enough to fall in love with life and take the risks of living.” Deb Dana

We’ve been through a lot this last two years and much of it was unwelcome and scary. There has been overwhelming uncertainty, grief and fear. We are living through a global pandemic. Many have died and we are grieving. We’ve become familiar with terms like supply chain, social distancing, and mRNA vaccines. People are destabilized and driven by fight/ flight/ freeze responses which makes it challenging to access our higher level conscious mind.

As we once again move into a new year feeling the effects of the last two, holiday plans abruptly changed with the rise of the Omicron Covid variant. We experience ups and downs in mood, levels of anxiety, and fluctuating despair and optimism. We are learning how much we long for and need connection to ourselves and with each other.

Our bodies and minds are feeling the effects of both healthy and unhealthy self-care, and the long term effects of fear and stress. We have learned more than we wanted to about our primitive brain and its job to predict danger and keep us safe. We’re exhausted and fed up. Life feels hard right now.