Lustre of jewelry reflects the radiance of blue sky. Beautiful dark green reflects the holy Sun. Hot wind makes me feel the strength of your teachings. Thank you. The ventral vagal complex (VVC) evolved in mammals to support an increasingly complex social life. It guides eye contact, hearing, eating, speech, singing, nursing, kissing, smiling, and some would say, direct heart to heart contact. Because of its role in making contact between different people favorable, the ventral-vagal system is a way of achieving personal safety, but it requires a moderate amount of actual safety to develop. All mammals, including human beings, band together mate, nurture their young, defend against common enemies, and coordinate hunting and food acquisition. The more efficiently the VVC synchronizes the activity of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, the better the physiology of each individual will be attuned to that of other members of the tribe. #RandolphHarris 1 of 4

Thinking about the VVC in this way illuminates how parents naturally help their kids to regulate themselves. Newborn babies are not very social; they sleep most of the time and wake up when they are hungry or wet. After having been fed they may spend a little time looking around, fussing, or staring, but they will soon be asleep again, following their own internal rhythms. Early in life babies are pretty much at the mercy of the alternating tides of their sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, and their caveman brain runs most of the show. However, day by day, as we coo and smile and cluck at them, we stimulate the growth of synchronicity in the developing VVC. These interactions help to bring our babies’ emotional arousal systems into sync with their surroundings. The VVC controls sucking, swallowing, facial expression, and the sounds produced by the larynx. When these functions are stimulated in an infant, they are accompanied by a sense of pleasure and safety, which helps create the foundations for all future social behavior. The brain is a cultural organ—experience shapes via the VCC is enormously rewarding. What begins as the attuned play of mother and child continues with the rhythmicity of a good basketball game, the synchrony of tango dancing, and the harmony of choral singing or playing a piece of jazz or chamber music—all of which foster a deep sense of pleasure and connection. #RandolphHarris 2 of 4

We can speak of trauma when the system fails: when you beg for your life, but the assailant ignores your pleas; when you are a terrified child lying in bed, hearing your neighbor scream as her boyfriend beats her up and drags her down the hallways by her hair; when you see your biddy trapped under a piece of metal that you are not strong enough to lift; when you want to push away the manager who is abusing you, but you are afraid you will be punished. Immobilization is at the root of most traumas. When that occurs the dorsal vagal complex (DVC) is likely to take over: Your heart slows down, your breathing becomes shallow, and, zombielike, you lose touch with yourself and your surroundings. You dissociate, faint, and collapse. The natural state of mammals is to be some what on guard. However, in order to feel emotionally close to another human being, our defensive system must be temporarily shut down. In order to play, mate, and nurture our young, the brain is required to turn off its natural vigilance. Many traumatized individuals are too hypervigilant to enjoy the ordinary pleasure that life has to offer, while others are too numb to absorb new experiences—or to be alert to signs of real danger. When the Christmas Day smoke detector of the brain malfunctions, people no longer run when they should be trying to escape or stand their ground when they should be defending themselves. #RandolphHarris 3 of 4

Many people feel safe as long as they can limit their social contact to superficial conversations, but actual physical contact can trigger intense reactions. However, achieving any sort of deep intimacy—a close embrace, sleeping with a mate, and Netflix and Chill—requires allowing oneself to experience immobilization without fear. It is especially challenging for traumatize people to discern when they are actually safe and to be able to activate their defenses when they are in danger. This requires having experiences that can restore the senses of physical safety. Hear, O LORD (Jehovah, Allah, God), my righteous plea; listen to my cry. Give ear to my prayer—it does not rise from deceitful lips. May my vindication come from you; may your eyes see what is right. Though you probe my heart and examine me at night, though you test me, you will find noting; I have resolved that my mouth will not sin. Show me the wonder of your great love, you who saved by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes. Faith is a fine invention for gentlemen who see; but microscopes are prudent in an emergency! To lose one’s faith surpasses the loss of an estate, because estates can be replenished—faith cannot. Inherited with life, belief but once can be; annihilate a single clause, and human’s beggary. O LORD (Jehovah, Allah, God), you bring me into a colorful World, a limitless World, my heart is calling and saluting you. #RandolphHarris 4 of 4