The Caged in Heart : How Your Childhood Wounds are Affecting Your Adult Life

Your childhood wounds do not solely determine the outcome of your future but they do contribute significantly to the quality of your relationships.

Many children grow into adulthood with unresolved childhood attachment injuries (internal wounds) that often originated in the home and affected his or her view of self. It doesn’t matter if the wound was intentional or not, it still can have the same adverse effects on the child and his or her intimate relationships later in life. One effect is relational hypervigilance. Relational hypervigilance can produce issues in your mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual functioning. It makes living alone difficult and hinders your ability to form strong, healthy, and secure relationships. Consequently, the purpose of this book is to shine light on the internal wounds that often go unnoticed and to provide a means of relief from the overwhelming burdens they have caused you in relationships. It is designed to look more specifically at one effect of abuse, and that is relational hypervigilance. Insight and guidance are provided on how to rest your overworked hyperactive threat system. This system is the internal system in your brain that alerts you when real or perceived danger is near (i.e., the limbic system). If you are hypervigilant, your alarm is always going off, and this is exhausting for you. In this book you will gain a better understanding of abuse and its cycle, how to break the cycle, and how to find beauty in the ashes of your past experiences.