The Paralyzing Power of the Past: When Unhealed Trauma Is Keeping You Stuck

Many years ago, a new client came to me for help with overcoming extreme anxiety in the workplace.

In fact, she wasn’t just anxious about work, she was terrified.

The reason for this was that the bank where she worked had been robbed, and the man who robbed it had singled her out as the one who would take him into the vault, where the safe was kept.

He held a gun to her head as he forced her to open the safe so he could fill his bag with the money that was inside of it.

As you can imagine, the terror that she felt during this experience was intense. And because of the nature of trauma, this terror didn’t stop when the experience was over and she was no longer in danger.

For though her conscious mind knew that she was safe, the imprints of trauma meant that her subconscious mind was still in that vault at the bank with a gun to her head, and a masked man threatening to kill her if she didn’t do as exactly as he said.

No wonder she was afraid to go to work!After a petrifying experience like that, I think anyone would be.

Thank goodness for tapping!

Together we unpacked the trauma, focusing specifically on the aspects of it which were the most frightening to her.

For example, the sound of the bank robber’s voice when he threatened her, the look in his eyes, and her fear that even though she was doing exactly what he told her to do, he would kill her anyway.

It didn’t take long to erase the imprints of trauma, as well as her fear of it happening again.

Once we were finished, she was able to return to work without fear.

She stopped having flashbacks of her harrowing experience every time she had to open the safe, every time a man of the same height wearing dark clothes walked through the door of the bank, and every time she closed her eyes to go to sleep at night.

Because the trauma was healed, she was free from fear.

Because she was free from fear, she was free to enjoy her job again.

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“It's often said that a traumatic experience ... marks a person forever, pulls her out of line, saying, 'Stay there. Don't move.'” — Jeffrey Eugenides

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The paralyzing power of the past is vividly captured in this quote by Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, Jeffrey Eugenides:

“It's often said that a traumatic experience ... marks a person forever, pulls her out of line, saying, 'Stay there. Don't move.'” 

It is truly amazing how stuck we can get because of unhealed trauma.

Sadly, this stuckness can prevent us from living the life we would like to live.

For instance:

• The lonely man who unconsciously sabotages all of his intimate relationships because of attachment issues caused by childhood trauma  

  
  

• The diabetic woman who can’t lose weight because of sexual abuse trauma which made her believe (unconsciously) that carrying extra weight is the only way to be safe 

• The gifted athlete who doesn’t go after his Olympic dream because childhood abuse which damaged his self-esteem 

• The physician who can’t quit smoking because her father smoked, and since he died, it’s the only thing that makes her feel connected to him 

• The couple who loves to travel but never goes anywhere because the husband is haunted by a previous flight when the pilot had to make an emergency landing 

• The entrepreneur who can’t get her business off the ground because of the limiting beliefs and fears she has which were caused by trauma she experienced as a result of growing up in poverty

Are there parts of your life in which you feel stuck?

If so, using EFT tapping to heal this trauma will set you free, making it possible for you to live a happier, more peaceful and fulfilling life.

You can do this on your own or with an EFT practitioner.

Or you can do as many of my clients do, which is a combination of both—weekly EFT sessions, and then doing short tapping assignments between sessions, so that you'll reach your treatment goals faster.

Whichever of these options works best for you, I urge you to do it.

You deserve the countless benefits that it will bring to your life.

BY HEATHER AMBLER

Heather Ambler is an EFT practitioner and mindset coach in California. Through her private practice and online programs, she’s helped many thousands of people all over the world heal the pain of losing a loved one, recover from trauma, release fears, erase limiting beliefs, increase confidence, and achieve goals. If you could use some help with any of these things, click here to learn more and schedule an EFT session or free consultation.