Hello dear friend,
I am Ipek Williamson.
Today I want to speak a little slowly because the topic deserves that.
We are talking about numbness.
Not sadness,
Anger,
Or even the specific ache of grief.
Numbness is different.
Numbness is the absence of feeling or the muting of it.
Like the dial has been turned down and you can see the emotions on the other side of the glass.
But you cannot quite reach them.
You know something should matter.
And it doesn't move you.
You know you are supposed to feel something.
And what arrives instead is a kind of flatness.
At going through the motions.
A sense of watching your own life.
From a slight distance.
If that is where you are,
This video is for you.
Here is what most people get wrong about numbness.
They think it means something has gone wrong.
That they are broken or cold or spiritually disconnected or simply a person who doesn't feel things deeply.
Numbness is almost always a protection.
A brilliant,
Compassionate act of the nervous system when the feeling has been too much for too long.
When grief accumulated without enough space to process.
Or when stress ran high for too many months.
When the world kept demanding.
And the body Quietly decided.
We are going to turn this down for a while.
For survival.
The numbness is not the problem.
It's the sign that something needed protecting and it worked.
The invitation when you are ready and only when you are ready is to let it slowly dry.
Not all at once,
Though.
Pawing happens at the edges first.
In small moments.
The unexpected catch in the throat at a piece of music.
The flash of genuine laughter that surprises you.
The moment Something in the outside world sneaks past the glass and actually lands.
This moment.
Are not random.
They are the nervous system testing the water.
Checking whether it is safe to feel again.
Here is a gentle practice for you for numbness.
Just get comfortable.
Let your eyes close.
Now take one breath.
And just notice.
Where in your body do you feel most alive right now?
Even the smallest flicker of sensation.
In the form of temperature.
Or heartbeat.
Or the slight rise and fall of breath.
Just observe.
And keep in mind,
You're not trying to feel more than what is here.
You are simply acknowledging what is.
Now bring to mind one thing,
One small thing that you find genuinely beautiful.
A color,
A memory,
A face,
A sound,
Something that has moved you before.
If you could find it,
Let it be here.
Whatever comes is the right thing and right amount.
And with a smile on your face,
Gently open your eyes.
One last point before we part.
Numbness doesn't last forever.
The feeling always comes back.
In its own time,
At its own pace.
Your only job is to be patient with yourself.
While it does.
Please take exquisite care of yourself.
