Distinguishing Now from Then

Sometimes the body reacts as if something dangerous is happening, even when your mind knows you’re safe. The nervous system doesn’t respond to facts. It responds to remembered danger. So when the body tightens, freezes, or floods, it isn’t confused. It’s being consistent with what it once learned. Many reactions that feel “too much” are actually precise responses to a different time. What makes this so destabilizing is not the intensity itself, but when the system loses context. When then is mistaken for now, the body carries the full weight of the past into the present. This is where many people feel stuck: knowing, rationally, that they’re safe, while their body behaves as if they are not.