Where Did My Breakthrough Go?? Understanding (and Outlasting) the 'Bounce-Back' Effect

There's an energy dynamic common to personal healing and growth that's easy to misinterpret. It's part of the natural momentum of the healing and pattern-breaking process that can, however, lead us to believe we've relapsed when in fact we're nearer than ever to completion.

If you've ever had a personal breakthrough, only to feel it slip away days later, you've experienced this dynamic. If you've ever felt discouraged and dismayed as some old negativity -- some old pattern or pain you'd recently cleared -- comes roaring back out of nowhere, you're actually right on course.

This "bounce-back" effect -- this sudden and often dramatic resurgence of an old pattern or fear -- is almost inevitable as we truly progress in clearing and expanding out of limiting beliefs.

It's a positive sign. In fact, the more pronounced this resurgence the closer we've come to clearing that pattern's deep root.

WHY OUR OLD PATTERNS AND FEARS FIGHT BACK ...
Understand that these limiting patterns and beliefs we're so keen now to clear were once absolutely vital to us. We originally adopted them to help us cope with early experiences that were traumatic for us. They were, in those overwhelming moments, the only way we could make sense of these painful experiences. They were our survival mechanism.

And it's because these patterns are rooted in our survival instinct, in our primal subconscious, that they can be so stubborn.

So whereas we can appreciate intellectually that a pattern is limiting and painful for us, there can remain a part of us -- in our primal nature, in our deep subconscious -- that still believes the negative pattern or belief is vital for our safety. Vital for our very survival!

Does this mean we can never truly clear such patterns?

Not at all. But when we've successfully cleared the pattern down to this deep layer, something interesting happens. That primal instinct will fight back. Believing your survival is at stake, that pattern will fight back with a vengeance.

And, by the way, because the fear comes from such a deep (subconscious) place, this resurgence will indeed seem like it's coming out of nowhere.

OUR FEAR'S FINAL GASPS ...
The good news is that the pattern becomes so insistent and inflamed because you're breaking free of it. It sees your expansion and newfound empowerment as a direct threat. After all, this traumatized place believes, if you're free and open, you'll be hurt again. In its mind, constraint and powerlessness equal safety.

So this disempowering belief is fighting for its life. And fighting furiously because it knows it's losing control.

Your job at this stage is simply to appreciate this dynamic. And to know that the more fiercely the negative pattern tries to reassert itself, the weaker it's actually becoming.

When those anxious and negative feelings begin to erupt, remind yourself of this. See their re-surfacing not as a relapse but as an affirmation of your breaking through -- as an opportunity to release the final remnants of this old pattern.

A little calm meditative breathing -- breathing in light, breathing out fear and anxiety-- will facilitate this process. It will also serve to soothe that place that wants to cling to the old pattern, that part of you that still feels threatened by your expansion.

So be patient and gently persistent. Gradually this "old" part of you will come to realize that it is your freedom and expansiveness, not constriction and fear, that actually ensures your safety and your power in the world.

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