What You Carry Inside
The Practice: Build what sustains you from within.
Why?
We go into rescue mode or start overanalyzing the situation and ignore the internal part of us where fear is showing up. The heart racing. The stress in the muscles. The temperature in the body changing. The reptile brain has taken over, yet we ignore it by focusing only on the problem outside ourselves.
This happens because we’ve been trained to look outward for solutions. Something goes wrong, and we immediately scan the external environment for what needs fixing. Meanwhile, your nervous system is asking for attention. Your breath has become shallow. Your jaw is clenched. Your stomach is tight. These physical responses are information, but many of us have learned to override them while we figure out what to do next.
What you carry inside determines whether your nervous system can regulate itself or stay locked in survival mode. When your heart races and your muscles tense, you need internal capacity to recognize what’s happening and respond to your own system before trying to fix the external problem. This capacity includes noticing sensation in the body, slowing the breath intentionally, recognizing a thought as a thought rather than absolute truth, and finding ground beneath your feet when things feel disorderly. These are not abstract ideas. They are tangible skills that show up as real physiological shifts from activation toward regulation.
Here is what this looks like in daily life. Your alarm goes off, you reach for your phone, you scroll through social media and panic floods your system because of the content you are watching. Your chest tightens and thoughts spiral. With internal capacity, you notice the panic, take a few slow breaths, and settle enough to think clearly. You get out of bed, make breakfast for your children. Your child yells at their sibling and anger flashes through you. With internal capacity, you feel the heat rise, pause briefly, and respond with firmness instead of exploding. You open an email with criticism from your boss and shame drops into your body. This is all happening before 8 am.
With internal capacity, you notice the sensation, remember your competence, and the shame loosens. You catch yourself rushing through the day with your shoulders raised and your breath barely moving. With internal capacity, you stop, adjust your posture, and your system downregulates slightly. Without internal capacity, survival responses dominate. You react in ways you later regret. You freeze when action is needed. Anxiety spirals and takes hours to settle. Tension accumulates and never fully releases. This is not a character flaw. It is what happens when activation has nowhere to go and no internal resources to support regulation.
Three factors shape whether you stay in survival mode or can regulate. What is happening around you. What vulnerabilities you carry that make certain situations hit harder. And what internal capacity you have built to meet activation. A critical email activates anxiety more strongly if anxiety is already a vulnerability. Internal capacity helps you recognize the anxiety in your body and respond instead of react.
Everyone carries vulnerabilities. Life continues to present stressors. Technology fails. Relationships disappoint. Bodies get sick. Money runs out. People die. You need internal capacity strong enough to meet these realities and help your nervous system recover. Without it, challenges compound. With it, difficulty remains difficult, but it does not take over.
What you build internally changes how you experience life. A regulated nervous system supports lower chronic stress, less persistent anxiety, reduced depressive weight, and fewer reactive outbursts. Research consistently links nervous system regulation with improved physical health and recovery from stress. This is not positive thinking or denial. It is about having the internal resources to meet reality.
Some capacity is shaped by genetics and early experiences. Much of it develops through practice. Each time you notice activation and support regulation, you reinforce new patterns. Each time you slow your breath or release tension, your nervous system learns flexibility. This is neuroplasticity in action. The brain changes based on repeated experience.
Where attention rests matters. If attention stays focused on threat, failure, or what might go wrong, the nervous system remains activated. If attention includes moments of safety, competence, and relief, the system learns that regulation is possible.
Building internal capacity involves noticing moments when regulation is present, even briefly, and allowing those moments to register. Let the body absorb experiences of safety or ease. Staying with these moments helps strengthen neural pathways that support regulation.
Your nervous system can learn. Your brain can change. Internal capacity can be built. The practice works.
About Healing Arts Center
Healing Arts Center is a veteran-owned wellness studio in Virginia Beach serving the Hampton Roads community. We support clients in developing emotional self-regulation and stress coping skills through mindfulness and creative expression.
Website: https://www.healingartsvb.com
Session & Class Calendar: https://www.vagaro.com/healingartscenter
Contact Page: https://www.healingartsvb.com/contact
