Too Late For Toaster

There is great value in learning your specific, physical responses to stress, before things spiral out of hand. This is important because the earlier you catch your system flooding, the more options you have to bring it back to balance.

Hence, “too late for toaster” written in the upper corner of the page. My client (who drew this with me) found that her system, when under low-to-moderate levels of stress, could be regulated by taking a moment to imagine herself in a toaster; gently warming and relaxing her body. That might sound weird, but the body communicates through images and sensations.

But the week before, she experienced an intensely stressful event and was frustrated that the image was no longer having the effect it once did. “Yeah because it’s too late for toaster,” I said.

Once we reach certain levels of activation, we need increasingly strong deactivating measures to return to our range of balance. It’s not impossible, but it’s rough on the system.

So it can be helpful to learn the more subtle steps your nervous system takes as it starts to get uncomfortably energized; instead of only becoming aware once it’s already “Too Late for Toaster.”

As always, feel free to reach out if you’re having a tough time riding the waves of these upended times. Learning to self-regulate can be a powerful stabilizing practice.