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Your Nervous System as a Traffic Light | Wellness Alchemist

March 20, 2026 by Amy Doublet Leave a Comment

*Your nervous system works like traffic lights—and most people never learn how to read them.*

Let Me Tell You a Story You Were Never Taught.

Long ago, before maps and clocks, before resumes and calendars, humans learned safety by watching the land.

The sky.
The herd.
The road ahead.

Your body still does this.

Not with words.
With signals.

And one of the clearest signals is a traffic light.

Most never learn this.
Not in school.
Not in therapy.
Not in success training.

So they blame themselves.

They think anxiety means weakness.
They think shutdown means laziness.
They think exhaustion means failure.

It doesn’t.

It means your nervous system is trying to keep you alive.

The Widely Unknown Truth About Trauma

Trauma isn’t the story of what happened.

Trauma is overwhelm without escape.

It’s the moment your body says,
“I can’t do this and I can’t get away.”

That’s it.

No drama required.
No visible catastrophe.

A child with no comfort.
A woman with no choice.
A professional with no support.

Trauma lives in the body.
Not the mind.

Your autonomic nervous system runs this show.
It decides before you think.

Like an ancient guardian.

Imagine Your Nervous System as a Traffic Light

Picture yourself driving.

Not fast.
Not lost.

Just moving through life.

Above the road is a traffic light.
Your body watches it all day.

🟢 Green Light:
Safety and Flow

This is the window of tolerance.

This is where intuition speaks.

In green, you can:

Focus without force
Feel emotions without drowning
Speak your truth without panic
Rest and still feel alive

Your body says:
“I’m safe enough.”

This is the social engagement system.
The part that connects.
Creates.
Loves.

Many successful women (& men) rarely live here.

Not because they’re broken.
Because their bodies learned danger early.

🟡 Yellow Light:
Alert and Push

This is mobilization.

The accelerator.

Your body senses threat.
Sometimes real.
Sometimes remembered.

In yellow, you may notice:

Racing thoughts
Tight chest or jaw
Overworking
Perfectionism
Anxiety masked as productivity

This looks like success.

But it’s survival.

You’re not driven.
You’re vigilant.

Your body says:
“Something’s coming. Stay ready.”

🔴 Red Light:
Shutdown and Freeze

This is the one no one explains.

Red isn’t weakness.
It’s ancient intelligence.

When fight or flight fails, the body chooses stillness.

In red, you may feel:

Numb
Foggy
Disconnected
Exhausted beyond rest
“I don’t know who I am anymore”

This is dorsal vagal shutdown.

The body plays dead to survive.

Your body says:
“Too much. I’m saving you.”

This isn’t depression.
It’s protection.

Why This Isn’t Your Fault

Sister Healer, hear this.

You didn’t choose your traffic light.

Your body learned it.

From:

Early responsibility
Emotional neglect
Chronic stress
Unsafe attachment
Success without support

Your nervous system adapted.

That adaptation saved your life.

The enemy isn’t you.

The enemy is a culture that teaches mindset without safety.
Healing without physiology.
Strength without rest.

Throw your stones there.

The Hero’s Journey Back to Green

Every myth follows the same arc.

Departure.
Trials.
Return.

Your work isn’t to stay green forever.

Your work is learning how to come back.

The Process Looks Like This:

Red → Yellow → Green
Freeze → Gentle movement → Connection
Shutdown → Sensation → Safety

Not forcing calm.
Not positive thinking.

But titration.

Small steps.
Tiny signals.

Begin Today

Try this now.

No fixing.
No effort.

Just noticing.

One hand on your chest.
One on your belly.

Ask quietly:
“What color am I right now?”

Then choose one support.

🔴 Red: warmth, stillness, soft light
🟡 Yellow: slow walking, longer exhales
🟢 Green: eye contact, music, creativity

That’s regulation.

That’s healing.

Healing trauma isn’t becoming someone new.

It’s returning to the road.
With signals you trust.
With a body that knows the way.

And one day soon, Sister Alchemist,
you’ll notice something subtle.

The light turns green more often.

Not because life changed.

Because you did.

Do me a favor – hit reply now and tell me what light you are currently experiencing.

Warmly,

Your Wellness Alchemist

The Best Way To Reduce Stress

August 3, 2020 by Amy Doublet 1 Comment

And it’s a lot easier than you would have imagined.

Once upon a time, Buddha was traveling from one town to the next with his followers. They happened to pass a lake. The Buddha told one of his disciples, “I am thirsty. Please get me some water from the lake.

”The disciple walked down to the water, but when he reached it, he noticed an ox cart had just begun crossing the lake. As a result, the water turned brown and murky.

Seeing the water as unfit to drink, he returned to the Buddha, saying, “The water is muddy. I don’t think it’s drinkable.

”The Buddha said, “Then let us take a rest here.”

30 minutes later, the Buddha asked the disciple for water again. He went back to the lake and found the water was clear. The mud had settled down and the water on top looked clean and drinkable. He collected some in a pot and brought it to the Buddha.

When he gave the Buddha the water, the Buddha said, “See? You let the water be, and the mud settled down on its own.

You got clear water, and it didn’t require any effort.”

Life can be very stressful.

There is so much to do, problems to solve, actions to take.

And it never seems to end.

“The faster you go, the behinder you get,” the old saying goes.

But what are you supposed to do?

Sleep.

Yes. You heard me right.

Some times the best thing to do when you’re feeling overwhelmed, stressed out, and anxious is to stop, rest, and recover.

Sleep isn’t just a timeout.

You’re not running away from everything that’s on your plate.

Instead, it’s an important requirement for the body’s self-regulation and recovery. All the more important when you’re feeling stressed and overwhelmed.

Like the Buddha, he knew how to get muddy water to become clear, let it be. Allow it the natural process to settle to the bottom.

To that end, when you lay down to rest and sleep, it’s important to do just that, lay down and sleep.

Do your best to put your challenges aside, whether that means putting on some calming music or nature sounds, maybe doing some exercise that tires you out so you need a nap, or some guided meditation to calm your mind.

Whatever works for you to give yourself the time you need to let the mud settle and to be gentle with yourself so that you can come back refreshed, rejuvenated, and excited to tackle the day with enthusiasm.

6 Signs Of Undiagnosed Trauma

April 12, 2018 by Amy Doublet Leave a Comment

They’re secret because no one seems to know about them…

…or let’s say there are very few of us…

First, let’s define trauma.

“Trauma is not an event, it is how your nervous system responds to the event.” – Dr. Peter Levine

Sense of trauma, loss and overwhelm — Drowning in trauma

This is one of the reasons I rarely ask people about their trauma history (unless it involves a physical injury – for other reasons we won’t explore here)

…because…

YOU ARE YOUR NERVOUS SYSTEM!!!

Everything that has happened in the past is affecting you NOW, in the context trauma, overwhelm or toxic stress.

Your physiology might be responding to a shock that is long over but your heart and respiratory diaphragm don’t know it.

You may have:

no energy
shortness of breath
tightness in your chest
frequently get panic attacks

This is your reality now, but the event happened 20 years ago, or maybe it was last year. It is even possible there was no single event but over time your system broke down due to an overwhelming barrage of micro stressors.

The stress response (and our physiology – the way the body responds) is vital in understanding “trauma” because when we get stuck in survival responses such as fight, flight or freeze over time we lose the capacity for health and vitality.

Even worse, we can even lose the capacity to be in a healthy nurturing relationship with others.

6 Signs To Tell If You Have Undiagnosed Trauma:

ONE:

You just don’t feel ANYTHING.

In fact, you’re (possible fight response!) I keep asking you about your sensations because you don’t even feel your body. Period.

Many people don’t feel a thing.

Especially those of us that get stuck deep inside a shutdown response. FREEZE. We just can’t feel a thing, maybe it’s just the body or it may include emotions.

{The other side of the coin is that people are so sensitive they’re overwhelmed.}

TWO:

Are you feeling stuck? – maybe experiencing “resistance”

Early imprints may be putting you into a defensive freeze response or shut down states.

You can’t shake the feeling, the struggle continues…..even though everything is “under control”.

You might be a power player that can get things done and are a taskmaster but are externally motivated. There is difficulty in being internally motivated. This is one sign of undiagnosed trauma.

THREE:

ANXIETY, Panic Attacks & Unreasonable Fear

Usually, occurring out of nowhere…

None of the “positive thinking” strategies work. Setting up your life for success with healthy routines and motivating self-talk simply isn’t effective if your nervous system is locked in any one of the survival responses.

If your nervous system is hyper-vigilant and on guard against perceived (or real) danger it is wanting to fight, go into flight or freeze and doesn’t have a chance to resolve these states you’ll continue to experience the anxiety, panic, and fear because it’s a natural biological response.

You may have even gone to the hospital when it gets so bad. Or wanted to. You think you’re literally having a heart attack. It’s just too much and you are way over stimulated, everything probably could set you off.

FOUR:

Eating Habits – Physical Activity

Diet and exercise aren’t helping you lose weight. No matter how strict and clean your diet is.

You eat all the right foods and exercise (a lot) but the weight just isn’t coming off. You may even be in a caloric deficit and are working out hard…BUT…

You just might be in freeze, the physiological state of survival. Either because of early trauma, shock trauma or overwhelm, that builds up over time.

You are not getting enough oxygen to the cells. Perhaps your ferritin is low (anemic?) The amygdala is firing “danger” alerts and your body is staying in self-preservation, completely unwilling to drop a pound. All survival signals are to store energy reserves because of the imminent danger. You lack energy and may even have chronic health issues.

FIVE:

Those who lack accurate gut instinct.

They just can’t differentiate between people who are safe and those who are not. This is usually an indication of relational trauma – early developmental trauma. It’s possible to think your childhood was happy, or generally ok. But, in the case of neglect you rarely remember much of a childhood. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve worked with that said their childhood was “trauma-free” or even “happy” but once we started exploring together (not the narrative) but their nervous system responses it turned out the memory didn’t match the physiological response showing up. They can’t make decisions quickly and feel a huge amount of shame when asking for help.

They are usually people in toxic relationships...

If we’re always in danger from a young age (like really young) it’s really hard to have healthy boundaries because what feels normal is probably toxic.

This usually stems from early developmental traumatic experiences.

These people are expecting danger so when someone good is in their life they do not know how to respond and may push them away. It is because they don’t have the map for healthy relationships.

SIX:

CHRONIC ILLNESS (especially auto-immune)

IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)
Depression
Migraines
Chrons Disease
Chronic Fatigue – Fibromyalgia
Lupus

Have you gone to all the specialists? Medical and Alternatives Practitioners? Are you virtually your own MD at this point?

Have you been to Shaman and traveled great distances for the next promising healing modality?

You’ve done everything and are still riddled with symptoms. The medical community says,“it’s all in your head.”

Specialists are stumped and drugs do not relieve your pain. (emotional or physical).

You may have even tried psyche drugs they’ve insisted you take, but they don’t help.

Download my free e-book and start the process of becoming your own medicine. Learn the language of your nervous system and begin to change your biology.

Get me the hell out of here!
The Flight Response

March 30, 2018 by Amy Doublet 1 Comment

Remember that bully that you really wanted to punch?

Only you couldn’t fight because s/he was bigger and stronger.

So, instead…

…You RAN, fast. You made the right call.

Your legs took you away from danger, as fast as possible. (Thank-God!)

Flight is another instinctive form of self-protection and a defensive response to a threat.

It happens when the perceived threat is so great that fighting would be a mistake, probably unsuccessful and failure would have significant negative consequences.

So you get the hell out of Dodge. Good job!

Your heart may be pounding, palms sweating and you’re out of breath.

So when the desire to run hits you, take a moment…

Right now.

(Even if you didn’t just outrun a tiger…chances are you need to pause and try this)

Look around, literally, find 5 objects in your environment that are pleasing to your eyes. Whether you are feeling threatened or not pause, take 10 seconds and look around right now.

Recognize you got away.

You are safe.

Either from a literal bully or another perceived or real threat, one that happened today, last week or 20 years ago.

It doesn’t matter.

Our nervous system can get stuck responding to threat from long ago as if it is happening right now.

And your brain is really bad at telling the difference between imagination and reality.

(That’s why your palms sweat and you jump during a scary movie.)

So, to calm yourself down and not feel the need to bolt out the door, do this one simple exercise.

Pause and look around right now.

Name 5-7 objects you see that you like.

Notice what happening internally. in your body, after finding them?

Now, what happens if you literally say (out loud), “I’m Alive“?

We have already taught you how to track sensations.

Follow the internal sensations inside after you repeat, “I’m Alive”.

Pay attention to your experience inside, does your belly relax?

What happens in your chest?

Do your shoulders drop?

Did you take a deeper breath?

How to Identify if You’re in a Flight Response

Feeling like your legs are restless or fidgeting
You scan for escape routes – need to sit by the door or facing the exit
You don’t feel like your weight is planted on the ground
Feeling panic, anxiety or terror

Photo by Aurélien - Designatic on Unsplash — The view from the tree of a tiger hunting you.

Do you remember the last time you got away or “escaped” a situation that was or seemed dangerous?

Clearly, you did or you wouldn’t be reading this now.

That realization gives you an often forgotten but hugely important reminder

You succeeded. You’re ALIVE!

Take that in.

Notice what happens internally.

Track your body’s internal sensations

And, as I’ve mentioned before…

JOURNAL

Write down your experience(s) with the above suggestions and exploration.

Look back on it in a week or two as you continue self-exploration and trying some of these exercises.

Download my free e-book and Destress In 7 Simple Steps. It is the foundation for beginning to have more resiliency and a healthy nervous system.

Thank you for taking the time and honoring your nervous system. You won’t be disappointed if you pause even for a couple seconds and apply some of the tools you learn here.

It’s been a pleasure serving your system in helping you heal.

Please share this fight, flight and freeze series of blogs and their exercises, with someone you know that may need them.

and…

THANK-YOU!

– Your Wellness Alchemist

7 Days To Stress-Less