Political Anxiety
Currently in the United States there is immense upheaval at the highest levels of government, and one can hardly start the day without a reminder of this. Regardless of your political orientation, this turbulence creates a kind of inner unease that vacillates from background hum to deafening roar. Maybe this phenomenon should have its own classification: Political Anxiety.
Why do we get so nervous about this? Lots of reasons, but a big one is this:
If we don’t like, trust, or agree with political actions, it evokes a familiar discomfort many of us had as children — when the people in charge did not handle things well.
Check for yourself. Think about the last political event that upset you. Then, instead of zeroing in on the details of what happened, focus on your sensations and on how you feel. How is your nervous system interpreting this event? What group of experiences does your brain link this one with? Does it fit in the category of situations where people lie? Or when responsible parties don’t take care? Bullies who push to the front and let the little guy fall? Something else?
Whatever it is for you, it is surely not a new concept. Thus, your nervous system reacts not just to the situation at hand, but to the many similar threats it has faced in your history as well. This makes your reaction volumes more intense, and likely distorted.
This is why the usual avenues for addressing political angst — voting, paying attention, creating or contributing to initiatives — don’t do much for this kind of anxiety. While helpful and necessary, this kind of action cannot address the root of what you’re feeling.
This is where your healing comes in — the thing you can tangibly, actually, immediately DO in response to any unpleasant situation.
When activated by a political situation, your trauma work is calling to you. It’s time to ask, “What is my nervous system telling me right now about my history? What is my inner child concerned about?”
If, for example, a political situation reminds you of bullying, then spend some time with your history with bullying. What was it like for you then? What would have helped? Why didn’t that happen? Were there things you never got to say or do about situations with bullies? Explore these questions in a gentle and genuine way — by talking with a trusted person, journalling or meditating — and you may find that just the act of looking at this produces a bit of relief. When we make non-judgmental contact with our painful history, healing occurs, and that is what brings the relief.
As we heal our history, we begin to hold the present situation in a more rooted, clear, and clean way. We can see it for what it is, outside of our traumas, and we reconnect with our capacity to endure and take appropriate action.
Of course healing your wounds does not magically resolve political situations, but you can think of it as transforming a specter-filled haunted house into just a house.
Healing takes time, skill and repetition. Most of us haven’t learned anything about how it works. Reach out if you want some support with this beautiful process. ♥︎
