Every human act, good or ill, is an angel to guide or warn. After trauma the World is experienced with a different nervous system, that has an altered perception of risk and safety. Neuroception is a word used to describe the capacity to evaluate relative danger and safety in one’s environment. When we try to help people with fault neuroception, the great challenge is finding ways to reset their physiology, so that their survival mechanisms stop working against them. This means helping them to respond appropriately to danger but, even more, to recover the capacity to experience safety, relaxation, and true reciprocity. There are many ways of showing a heart. Deep, deep, and still deeper we go, if we would find out the heart of a man. Unauthorized and abhorrent thoughts will sometimes invade the best human heart. After extensively interviewing and treating six people who survived plane crashes, two people reported having lost consciousness during the incident; even though they were not physically injured, they collapsed mentally. Two went into panic and stayed frantic until well after we had started treatment. Two remained calm and resourceful and helped evacuate fellow passengers from the burning wreckage. Similar responses range of responses #RandolphHarris 1 of 4

Wherever there is a heart and an intellect, the ailments of the physical frame are tinged with the peculiarities. The autonomic nervous system regulates three fundamental physiological states. The level of safety determines which one of these is activated at any particular time. Whenever we feel threatened, we instinctively turn to the first level, social engagement. We call out for help, support, and comfort from the people around us. However, if no one comes to our assistance, or we are in immediate danger, the organism reverts to more primitive way to survive: stand your ground or quickly escape. Compassion of the heart decides for itself. We fight off our attacker, or we run to a safe place. Fear plucks the feather from the wings of the soul and sits it naked and shivering in a vault, where the passing of a common hodman’s foot above sounds like the king of terrors coming. If we cannot fight off our attacker, nor run to a safe place—we cannot get away, we are held down or trapped—the organism tries to preserve itself by shutting down and expending as little energy as possible. We are then in a state of freeze or collapse. The present evil we dread is always the worst. It is good, when calamities befall us, that we should look into ourselves, and fear. #RandolphHarris 2 of 4

This is where the many-branched vagus never comes in, and understanding the brief anatomy is central to understanding how people deal with trauma. The social-engagement system depends on the nerves that have their origin in the brain stem regulatory centers, primarily the vagus—also known as the tenth cranial nerve—together with adjoining nerves that activate the muscles of the face, throat, middle ear, and voice box or larynx. When the ventral vagal complex (VVC) runs the show, we smile when others smile at us, we nod our heads when we agree, and we frown when friends tell us of their misfortunes. When the VCC is engaged, it also sends signals down to our heart and lungs, slowing down our heart rate and increasing the depth of breathing. As a result, we feel calm and relaxed, centered, or pleasurably aroused.  The vagus nerve also called the pneumogastric nerve is connected to the trachea, esophagus, pancreas liver, colon, stomach, and other major parts. It registers heartbreak and gut-wrenching feelings. When a person becomes upset, the throat gets dry, the voice becomes tense, the heart speeds up, and respiration becomes rapid and shallow. The living being usually has three responses to threat. The social engagement system: an alarmed person signals danger and calls for help. VVC. Stand your ground or quickly escape: Teeth may be bared, the face of rage and terror. SNS. Collapse: The Body signals defeat and withdraws. DVC. So if you wonder why someone may go out of their way to avoid you and your meetings, it is because that individual sees you are a threat, and chooses to escape from the chaos.  #RandolphHarris 3 of 4

Any threat to our safety or social connections triggers changes in the areas innervated by the VVC. When something distressing happens, we automatically signal our upset facial expressions and tone of voice, changes meant to beckon others to come to our assistance. However, if no one responds to our call for help, the threat increases, and the older limbic brain jumps in. The sympathetic nervous system takes over, mobilizing muscles, heart, and lungs for stand your ground or escape. Our voice becomes faster and more strident and our heart starts pumping faster. If a dog is in the room, it will stir and growl, because it can smell the activation of our sweat glands.  Finally, if there is no way out, and there is nothing we can do to stave off the inevitable, we will activate the official emergency system: the dorsal vagal complex (DVC). This system reaches down below the diaphragm to the stomach, kidneys, and intestines and drastically reduces metabolism throughout the body. Heart rate plunges (we feel our heart drop), we cannot breathe, and our gut stops working or empties (literally scaring the shit out of us). This is the point at which we disengage, collapse, and freeze. The Lord (Jehovah Allah) has sworn, I will never forget anything that have done. Will the land not tremble for this, and all who live in it mourn? All the people who hurt others for fun will die by sword, all those who say ‘Disaster will not overtake or meet us. #RandolphHarris 4 of 4