There is Safety in You…

Reclaiming safety from being something external to something inside that you can touch at any moment.

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There is safety in you. You only need to know how to touch it. 

Even in the chaos of the world, in our grief, our anger, our frustration, helplessness. Even when external safety feels unreliable, unpredictable, and absent. 

There is a place in you that can be safe harbor. 

It isn’t about compartmentalizing or ignoring what pains you.  It isn’t about false optimism and the power of positive thinking. This is not about mindset. 

This is about touching the intelligence and wisdom that lives in your system, in every system. It's the safety that keeps your heart pumping, your breath moving, your brain functioning. 

It’s the thread of safety that runs through you.

Although it might feel too small to find, too elusive, or crushed, or maybe nonexistent, you know it’s there. You know it’s here because you’re reading this.

Because you turned toward something that might support you, even if you didn’t know you were doing it. 

Safety seeks safety. 

Safety itself is relational. Just like our nervous systems. We seek the cues and glimmers and spikes of what feels good. 

It’s what we’re meant to do. What our biology is designed to do. We do it with TV, our phones, being with people, eating delicious food, wearing our favorite shoes. This is the safety in you looking for more safety.  

And there is another opportunity. Now. 

In fact, you’ve already done it. You’re reading this. 

Take a deep breath. There it is again. 

Touch your fingers together. Feel the ground under you, the chair. Feel the texture of your clothes, the air against your skin. There it is again. 

Listen to your breath. In. Out. In. Out. 

Safety outside of you can be unreliable. It, like your nervous system, is emergent. 

But it is possible to get to know how to turn toward safety in yourself. It only takes the smallest moment, the tiniest nudge, the most gentle reorientation. 

There is enough safety that you’ve turned toward what soothes you. This writing. This work. Me. There is safety in you, you’re touching it now and as you touch it, it grows.

Even through pain, grief, or sorrow…

Even through worry, busyness, or rushing…

Even through sluggishness, anxiety, or hopelessness…

There is safety in you.

Slow your breath and let your body show you. 

Feel the temperature in the room. 

Feel the support under you, the chair, couch, your seat.

Feel the ground underneath you. The weight, the solidness.

Bring attention to the tip of your nose or to your lips and feel the air passing in and out. 

Feel the support of your breath that is always there, a quiet tendril of safety.

A glimmer, support that you can reach for now, later, again and again. 

“There is safety in me.”

“There is safety in me.”

“There is safety in me.”

You might try repeating the words as you feel your breath come in and out. 

The weight of gravity keeps you safe. 

Your lungs and heart keep you safe. 

Your flesh keeps you safe. 

You are safe in this moment. Right now. 

Even in the midst of all the complexity we experience as humans, there is a gentle pool of safety in you waiting to be touched. 

You’re touching it now.

Listen to There's Safety In You - a short audio practice to support your experience of finding safety inside.