Uncovering Survival Patterns: A Guided Reflection for Trauma Healing - Free Reflection Worksheet Included
Many people begin their healing journey by asking quiet, persistent questions like:
Why do I always feel on edge?
Why is it so hard to let people in?
Why do I feel so disconnected from myself?
These questions aren’t a sign of something “wrong”, but instead a sign that your self-awareness is waking up after years of living in survival mode.
If you’ve experienced lingering effects of childhood trauma as an adult, i.e. you are navigating life with complex PTSD, your mind and body likely developed strategies to protect you. These survival patterns, though once necessary, may now be holding you back from connection, authenticity, and ease.
This is where trauma informed therapy and self-guided reflection can help.
What Are Survival Patterns?
Survival patterns are learned ways of thinking, feeling, and showing up that helped you stay safe in unsafe or overwhelming environments. They often live in the background of our lives, unnoticed, yet deeply felt.
You might notice them in:
Overthinking or looping thoughts
Difficulty being vulnerable or setting boundaries
Shame around your needs, emotions, or identity
Posture, appearance, or body language that protects or hides
Disconnect from your voice, intuition, or emotions
These patterns aren’t your fault—they’re adaptations. And they can be gently unlearned.
Why Self-Awareness Matters in Healing Trauma
You don’t have to “fix” yourself to start healing. The real first step is noticing: bringing compassionate awareness to what’s happening inside. That’s the heart of trauma informed therapy, and it’s something you can begin practicing now.
Self-awareness helps you:
✅ Recognize how the past is shaping your present
✅ Uncover internalized beliefs that no longer serve you
✅ Reconnect with your intuition, body, and voice
✅ Shift from automatic reactions to conscious responses
Try the Free Journal: Peeling Back the Layers
To support this process, I created a free 5-page trauma healing journal called Peeling Back the Layers. It’s designed to gently guide you through reflections that help you better understand yourself, your body, and your survival responses.
Inside, you’ll explore:
👗 What your clothing and appearance express about you
🧠 The thoughts that loop in your mind
💬 What feels hard to say or express
💔 What has made vulnerability difficult for you
😣 Where shame shows up in your body
Plus, you’ll receive a simple grounding exercise you can return to whenever things feel overwhelming, something I often use with clients in complex PTSD therapy.
🎁 Download it for free here.
Created by a Trauma Therapist in California
I’m a licensed therapist offering trauma informed therapy in California, with a special focus on complex PTSD therapy and working with BIPOC and neurodiverse adults with childhood trauma. This journal is a taste of the kinds of questions and explorations I bring into sessions—with care, consent, and compassion.
Whether you’re just getting curious about healing or already deep in your work, Peeling Back the Layers is an invitation to meet yourself in a new way.
Healing doesn’t mean becoming someone new, it means uncovering the you who’s been there all along, waiting underneath the patterns.
