We’re back to Dan Robert’s Internal Family Systems meditation course on InsightTimer, still on Day 2.

Remember in middle school or high school, back when there were art classes, learning how to dig grooves into a linoleum square? Or maybe you did it when you were younger, with a potato, and you made a simpler design, maybe a star.

Then, you either pressed your carved potato into an inked pad, or you rolled your lino plate with an ink roller. Then, you applied your inked design to a surface, usually a thick piece of paper. You could make that image over and over and over again.

Just as we can carve linoleum plates or potatoes to make the same print image repeatedly, our brains can do the same thing. Instead of a potato or linoleum, our brains use a schema.

Quoting Roberts,

“A schema is a template or blueprint for anything you do over and over. It’s a shortcut that helps your brain do something without thinking about it, like tying your shoes.”

Schemas affect actions (e.g., tying shoes), thoughts (e.g., shame) and autonomic responses (e.g., racing heart, tumbling stomach).

Dr. Jeffrey Young, the founder of schema therapy, has identified eighteen maladaptive schemas. As an adult, the schema fires up when anything stressful happens that reminds us of painful childhood experiences.

I like the way Roberts uses the term ‘painful childhood experiences,’ rather than trauma. ‘Trauma’ can be a heavy label. Something that health professionals measure with questionnaires.

‘Painful’ is measured by the person who experienced it. If it felt painful, it was painful.

Three kinds of childhood experiences lead to maladaptive schemas:

1. Trauma
2. Abuse
3. Neglect

What results is not just the experience, but the legacy of that experience. It has a profound impact on the nervous system.

I see this easily in Roxie, and thanks to Roxie, I see it in myself.

Chewing the Cud of Good

Thankful for my Home.