Choose Your Color

BY DR. ASHA GEORGE-GUISER

Are your nerves a soothing green, hot red mess, or code blue dead?

Green (Ventral Vagal)

Safe and sound, all is well, welcoming, engaged, curious, social, connected, ( Song is I can see clearly now the rain is gone)

Red (Sympathetic)

Fight and flight - overwhelming, angry, toxic, unsafe, want to run or fight, body revs up, chaos begets more chaos.

Code Blue (Dorsal Vagal)

Collapsed, dark, cold, numb, alone, afraid.

Ponder on the following life traps that take our nervous systems from lush green to red hot to code blue…

  1. I try very hard to hold on to people I am close to and often end up driving them away.

  2. I believe that I am going to end up alone.

  3. I do not trust God and people easily.

  4. I am afraid that God and/or people will hurt me.

  5. I do not feel I can deal with life’s responsibilities easily and I rely on others to help me regularly.

  6. My family/friends and I are very involved in each other’s problems and lives.

  7. I have never had enough love and attention in my life.

  8. People have not been there to guide me in my life.

  9. I worry that if I do not do what others ask of me, I will be rejected for who I am (sexual identity, race, socio-economic) and what I need.

  10. I worry a lot about pleasing God and/or people.

  11. I compare myself to others and am a very competitive person.

  12. I am preoccupied with performance and success above pleasure and relaxation.

  13. I have a hard time making myself follow rules and regulations.

  14. I cannot take a “no” for an answer.         

On June 13, I will teach all who attend the workshop, Putting an X though Anxiety, how to move from code blue and red to green, calm, non-anxious of living.

Self CareDr. Asha George-GuiserAnxiety, Self Care1 Comment