This is all so very helpful! Still, more questions...
Yes, this makes sense. I'm stuck in hyperalert mode. Have been for many years, I think, which is probably why the PTSD finally brought me to my knees. Just systemic exhaustion.When one is on hyperalert, going beyond the body is really difficult
Yes, this happens to me too. Although, my "place" sort of shifts and changes all the time, so when I really need it, it can be confusing to find.can think of a safe place in all its detail using all my senses but when I need to go to that place in therapy or elsewhere I cant quite get there or I'm there but things don't seem right, something is different about it.
This is really key. I agree with you. I have had success doing this that I talked about in my diary...managed to imagine I was protected by a very special "bat cape" which does sometimes help keep me feeling safe from my mother who I have to see and talk to all the time, and who is/was one of my "abusers" (still trying to process that). However, what I am talking about here is the need for a safe place to keep me safe from myself--all the inner demons which are far worse than anything outside of me in my life at the moment. Which is a good thing for which I am thankful...but a HUGE problem, nonetheless.I don't have a "safe place" and I question the seemingly universal focus on that idea. Instead I visualise things like being strong and being protected. That might be me protecting myself - for example myself as a warrior or strongwoman of some kind. It might be something else protecting me, like light, or a magical animal, or an imaginary bodyguard.
Yes, you're right about this. But what do you do when you are distressed? I'm struggling with this...sometimes I don't notice the signals of encroaching distress until it's too late and I'm totally triggered.I should add that I don't think the thing about safety is to get distressed and then go to a safe place. I think it's about starting in a place of safety and being there throughout the difficult things that are being addressed.