Do You Have Emotional Flashbacks?

By Crystal Andrus Morissette

You’re going about your day… say, opening your mail… when someone knocks on your front door and you instantly feel stress. They start knocking more loudly and more forcefully, so you pretend you’re not home and silently creep up the stairs, feeling anxious for no “real” reason.

Or you’re driving in your car when someone cuts you off, then screams at you. You instantly feel overwhelmed. Perhaps you begin shaking. Deep down, you know there is no way this single incident could create this much emotion inside of you.

What is going on? Are you experiencing emotional flashbacks? Emotional flashbacks take us into a timeless part of our psyche. In a flash, we are brought back to an old feeling, probably from childhood, of being helpless, hopeless or in danger. Unprotected. Unsafe. Unseen. Unimportant.

Here are some tips that can help you when you are having an emotional flashback:

1. Name it. Become aware of your internal feelings. Does it feel like you are “flooding” with emotion? Does it feel “tingly” or numb?” Pay attention of how the emotion feels in your body and name it.

2. Remind yourself that you are safe. Allow yourself to become aware that, in this moment, nothing truly “scary” is happening. You are simply activating an old, stored memory of fear.

3. Become your own friend. Talk lovingly to yourself, stroke your own arms and tell yourself you are not in danger. Breathe through it and know that this too shall pass.

Crystal Andrus Morissette has been many things—a homeless teen, a survivor of abuse, a competitor for Miss Galaxy, 220 pounds, and a coach to celebrities. Now this best-selling author, Emotional Age and communication expert and women’s advocate is teaching women all over the globe to take charge of their stories, love ALL their parts and redefine themselves as whole, healthy and empowered with her new book, “The Emotional Edge: Discover Your Inner Age, Ignite Your Hidden Strengths and Reroute Misdirected Fear to Live Your Fullest.”

Crystal’s S.W.A.T. (Simply Woman Accredited Trainer) Institute offers an empowerment coach certification exclusively for women that she created with fellow female visionaries Louise Hay, Marianne Williamson, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Colette Baron-Reid, and Sandra Anne Taylor among others.