Brainspotting Motto: Where You Look Affects How You Feel

By: Patrice Flanagan-Morris, LCSW

“Where you look affects how you feel” is the motto of the Brainspotting community. It is all about the understanding that we orient where we look towards pleasure and pain. Our eyes are connected to the survival system within our brains, it’s essential for our safety. However, at times this self-scanner can become hyper-sensitized based on our past experiences and sometimes we are unaware of what these experiences are!

Exercise:

I encourage you to take one minute and think about something that brings you a feeling of happiness, lightness, or presence. Once you can feel this in your body, look to the left, middle, and right. Notice the difference in that feeling. On one side the feeling may get stronger and on another, it may feel less connected or you may notice more anxiety.

In Brainspotting we generally amplify the distressed feelings so we can understand what experiences live there. As a result, we can work towards re-organizing and re-processing those experiences. When we are able to untangle these experiences and release them through the body they no longer have the same emotional impact on us. They no longer drive our reactions, they don’t overtake us and we can act in alignment with who we feel we are.

Healing is out there and available to you. In the meantime, try to cultivate more peace or joy in your life by doing the practice above. Try in great detail to describe a peaceful place, find where you feel this in your body, and breath it in. You deserve this downtime. Our brains need it, and when we can give our brains some of this downtime, creativity, productivity, and engagement can flow.

If you are interested to learn a little more head to the Brainspotting page!