Fear & Complex Trauma

Fear & complex trauma

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total abliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
~Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear (Frank Herbert, Dune)

Fear is a powerful thing.

It can keep us stuck.

Stuck in the known.

Stuck in harmful patterns, cycles, relationships.

It can have us returning again and again to painful patterns, cycles, relationships.

Because the devil we know is safer than the unknown.

Or that is what the trauma and survival response within us would have us believe.

A truth is that breaking life long, often generations old, patterns and cycles can be terrifying. Moving into new and unknown territory, generally without a road map, is challenging. It takes intention, practice, compassion for when we mess up, and motivation to keep going.

We fall back on harmful …