Lorwen C Nagle, PhD Profile picture
Jan 12 13 tweets 4 min read Read on X
The most taboo, weirdly romanticized, yet misunderstood topic of 2025:

Childhood trauma.

Dr. Jordan Peterson says it's why your Dad left, why your Mom cried alone, and why you're always anxious...

Here's how to reverse its damage naturally: 🧵 Image
Dr. Peterson says memories older than 18 months still stirring up emotions are a red flag of trauma that needs unpacking.

1st understand trauma happens in 2 stages:

1. Embodied terror
2. Conceptual processing
Terrible memories stay terrible until intentionally deconstructed.

When broken into manageable parts and challenged they dissolve.

Feel the feelings, but don't let them rule you.

As a Harvard-trained psychologist, here are 5 strategies I use with clients...
1/ Reframe distorted thoughts to loosen trauma's grip.

-Identify cognitive distortions
-Practice self-compassion over self-blame

You can't change what happened, but you can change the meaning you ascribe to it.
2/ Avoid trauma talk during an active crisis.

Dr. Peterson stresses not rushing to analyze trauma in the midst of a crisis.

When the house is on fire, just get out!

Well-intentioned "help" can backfire if mistimed.
3/ Old baggage loves to resurface in relationships.

-Focus on the current issues, not the past.
-Set clear conditions to resolve conflicts.
-Fight over what's happening NOW, not over everything.

One dispute pulls the thread, and suddenly every fight is about everything.
4/ You're not alone.

Shame from trauma is a universal human experience.

And, healing shame takes courageous vulnerability.

But you need to know: that vulnerable child isn't YOU anymore!
5/ Exposure therapy gradually desensitizes you to trauma triggers:

-Retrain your brain to lower reactivity.
-Always work with a trauma-informed therapist.
-Confront memories, situations, sensations in controlled doses.

It may feel slow-- even difficult --but you're reclaiming your life...
As a child, I experienced abandonment trauma.

By age 5, I'd crafted an alter ego that was tough and a tomboy. It
shielded the vulnerable side of me. And, I became self-alienated.

By 20, despite honors in school and blinding success, I fell into deep depression.

Years of therapy, spiritual work and working with others brought me to my true self. This could be your story too.
I have clients who've healed from horrible trauma.

Take the case of Rick, a 42 year-old founder I treated, he was riddled with chronic insomnia.

He would lie awake for hours, around 3 AM.
During therapy, he described growing up in a home where his father would come home drunk at 3 AM...
His father threw furniture and shouted waking the whole family every night.

As a little boy, Rick felt he must stay alert to keep safe and help his mother.
1 month into therapy, Rick was able to sleep through the night.
I've dedicated my life to helping people transform with mindfulness.

-Release anxiety naturally.
-End the cycle of overthinking.
-Transform fear through presence.

If you're facing these issues, schedule an Enlightenment Call to see if
I can help: calendly.com/lorwen_consult…
And, if this resonated with you, follow @LORWEN108 for similar threads on anxiety, stress, and mindfulness.

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More from @LORWEN108

Oct 11
The most dangerous, oddly glorified, yet overlooked problem in the world:

Overthinking and underacting.

It's why you're stressed, depressed and your immune system is always in chaos.

Here's Eckhart Tolle's way to escape the prison of overthinking: 🧵 Image
Image
Most people don't realize that unnecessary negative mind activity generates a significant part of their unhappiness.

Overthinking isn't just annoying - it's physically damaging your body... Image
As Tolle discovered, your body can't distinguish between an actual threat and your anxious thoughts.

When you think fearful thoughts, your body reacts as if you're in real danger.

Here's what's happening in the mind...
Read 12 tweets
Sep 27
Your brain was NEVER designed for modern-day Western society.

As a Harvard-trained psychologist, here are 5 reasons why you:

-Can't sleep
-Overthink
-And, feel exhausted.

AND, the secret sauce to break free....🧵 Image
Anxiety isn’t a “disorder.”

It's your imagination turned upside down.

Flip it--and your life becomes unimaginable success.
In our modern society, three core networks run our reality:

* Salience Network (SN)
* Default Mode Network (DMN)
* Executive Control Network (ECN)

When hijacked, they trap you in survival mode 24/7. Image
Read 14 tweets
Sep 20
You’re not indecisive. You’re not “too nice.”

You’re stuck in a trauma loop of people-pleasing and overthinking.

It’s not your personality.

It’s your nervous system replaying old survival scripts.

Here’s the truth—(most therapists won't tell you) 🧵 Image
Overthinking is thought to be a bad habit.

It’s not.

It’s a survival mechanism.

Same with people-pleasing.

People-pleasing isn't a kind of gracious personality trait.
It's a way you micro-manage your body's reaction to perceived threats.

Both overthinking and people-pleasing are reactions to perceived trauma.
These micro-threats are continuous and come from childhood.

They keep you stuck in survival mode.
Read 24 tweets
Sep 20
This woman heals what therapists can't:

Byron Katie.

She spent years depressed and suicidal until one realization...

Now, with only 4 questions, she has healed millions from anxiety, stress, and overthinking.

Here's her philosophy: 🧵 Image
Before her awakening, Byron Katie's life was a nightmare.

She was clinically depressed, agoraphobic, and addicted to alcohol. For nearly 10 years, she could barely leave her bedroom.

Self-hatred consumed her so completely she slept on the floor, feeling unworthy of a bed. Image
Image
Then on February 1986, something inexplicable happened.

A cockroach crawled over her foot while lying on the floor of a halfway house.

In that moment, she experienced a profound awakening.

She realized it wasn't the world causing her suffering - it was her thoughts about the world.
Read 16 tweets
Sep 15
How does one page change a life?

I was living in a Tibetan monastery when I wrote a note about wanting to help the Dalai Lama’s people.

That single act set off a chain of events that led me into his presence — and into an experience of grace I’ll never forget.

Here’s my story 🧵Image
Image
While living in Tushita Monastery, I met a man who told me:

“Write a short note about who you are and why you wish to help.”

I did. I submitted it to the Dalai Lama’s palace headquarters.

To my surprise, the request was granted.
Within days, I was ushered into the Dalai Lama’s private chambers at the palace.

His secretary darted nervously around the room.
The energy was electric and unsettled.

I felt awkward, unworthy, and nervous.

And I wondered: why is even his secretary so anxious? Image
Read 14 tweets
Sep 13
Alchemy wasn’t about turning lead into gold.
It was about transforming the psyche through images.

And this is the key most people miss about healing anxiety.

Read on if you want an anxiety-free life...🧵 Image
Jung spent 16 years painting visions in The Red Book.

He wasn’t “just” drawing.

He was performing alchemy on his own mind—

turning chaos into order, pain into meaning, fragments into wholeness.

Here's the story of Jung's mandala drawings in 1928...
You see, anxiety is untranslatable when you only use words.

But when you give it form in an image, something shifts.

Listen to Joseph Campbell talking about slaying your dragon and becoming whole.
Read 10 tweets

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