Lorwen Harris Nagle, PhD Profile picture
Jan 12, 2025 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

Apr 13
Anxiety isn’t just in your head.

It’s stored in your nervous system.

Here are 9 body-based ways to release it (without medication) 🧵

1. Cold water on your face. Image
Image
1. Cold water on your face activates the vagus nerve.

It triggers the mammalian diving reflex → increases parasympathetic (vagal) activity and slows your heart rate, which helps interrupt panic attacks.

Cold water also signals GABAergic release, giving you a quick, refreshing, invigorating feeling. It's a sure-fire way to interrupt negative thought loops.
2. Slow exhales stop the fight-or-flight response-- in seconds.

Long exhales increase respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and vagal calming. Your entire body relaxes, and visual clarity is restored.

This often increases HRV and shifts autonomic balance away from the fight-or-flight response.
Read 12 tweets
Apr 10
You’re not lazy, lost, or broken.

You may be living a life that no longer belongs to you.

Carl Jung saw 6 signs you’ve drifted away from your real path: 🧵 Image
Carl Jung identified 2 distinct life phases:

- 1st half: Build your life, achieve goals, & establish your identity.
- 2nd half: Find meaning, integrate your shadow, & seek wholeness.

Many midlife crises occur when people cling to the 1st half of life—too long.
2/ Your purpose evolves as you do...

- The ambitious entrepreneur might need to become a mentor.
- The dedicated parent might need to rediscover their individual identity.

Jung taught that psychological growth continues throughout life—if we're willing.

And, the big question is: Can you let go and allow the 2nd half of life guide you?
Read 13 tweets
Apr 9
This is Dr. Gabor Maté.

He went on Joe Rogan & revealed nearly 65% of U.S. adults take prescription drugs.

That’s disturbing for one reason:

We may be medicating the consequences of modern life instead of fixing what’s making people sick.

Here are 5 shocking findings:
1. “Normal” is making us sick.

We call it normal to be rushed, distracted, emotionally shut down, and too busy to really be with each other.

But Maté’s whole point is that many of our “normal” conditions are biologically abnormal for human beings.

And when disconnection becomes normal, we call it adulthood.

That leads to #2...
2. The body experiences disconnection as danger.

For Maté, loneliness isn’t just sad.

It’s stressful.

And when stress becomes chronic, biology shifts:

inflammation rises, immunity weakens, and the body starts paying the price for unmet human needs.

That leads to #3.
Read 9 tweets
Apr 3
7 signs you’re not anxious — you’re stuck in an overthinking + people-pleasing trauma loop:

1. Waking at 3–4 AM
Your eyes fly open.
Your body feels alert before your feet hit the floor.

Then the scan begins:

What did I say wrong?
What might go wrong tomorrow?
Who might be upset with me?

That’s not anxiety.

That’s a nervous system that never learned how to power down.

And if that goes unchecked, it leads to sign #2…
2. Jaw clenching.

Teeth grinding.
Tight face.
Tongue pressed to the roof of your mouth.

This is what suppression feels like in the body.

People-pleasing isn’t kindness.

It’s the strain of holding back what feels too dangerous to say.

And when that stays trapped in the body, it turns into sign #3…
Read 13 tweets
Apr 2
Jung predicted the modern identity crisis 100 years ago.

Now millions are living it:

successful on paper, empty in private.

He also left the escape route.

Here’s how to use it in 2026: 🧵 Image
Most people never choose their life.

They inherit the Default Path:

School → Job → Success → Burnout → “Now what?”

Everything looks right on paper.

But feels wrong in the body.

Because that path builds a life for you, not from you.
Jung believed we trade authenticity for belonging.

So we build a Persona—

a mask that helps us fit in.

But live through the mask too long,

and you lose touch with who you are. Image
Read 12 tweets
Mar 21
5 signs your people-pleasing is fear, not kindness:

1. You feel responsible for other people’s disappointment.
Not because you’re so caring.

Because you learned that other people’s discomfort could
become your problem.
2. You soften what you really want before you say it.
Read 14 tweets

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