PERSONAL PROGRESS TRACKERS
Hope is an essential ingredient in change. Clients come to treatment with long-standing autonomic patterns that bring ongoing experiences of physical and psychological suffering and often carry a flavor of hopelessness. Tracking the nuances of autonomic reorganization is an important part of the therapy process. Bringing explicit attention to the subtle beginnings of change is a hope-filled action. Personal Progress Trackers offer concrete ways to note early successes, track small shifts, and identify the steps that are moving the autonomic nervous system in the direction of change.
Chapter 4: Befriending Personal Progress Tracker
Use the following questions to explore your deepening befriending capacities. Check in each week to see how you are becoming more able to tune in and turn toward your autonomic nervous system with the befriending qualities of curiosity and compassion.
•I notice my autonomic nervous system and the state I am in. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I can find my place on the autonomic hierarchy. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I have a variety of ways to connect to my autonomic nervous system. (a few, would like more, enough)
•I am able to be curious about where I find myself. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I am able to be self-compassionate and not self-critical about where I find myself. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
Chapter 5: Attending Personal Progress Tracker
Use the following questions to explore your deepening capacity to attend. Check in each week to see the ways you are becoming more able to track the autonomic path of your day and mark your moments of ventral vagal regulation.
•I am able to track my movement through changing states of activation. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I’m comfortable identifying cues of safety from another social engagement system. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I’m comfortable identifying cues of danger from another social engagement system. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I feel playful. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I find moments to savor. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I understand my personal needs around solitude. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I take care of my personal needs around solitude. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I find regulation in connection with art and nature. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
Chapter 6: Shaping Personal Progress Tracker
Use the following questions to explore your deepening capacity to nourish new pathways. Check in each week to see the practices that are shaping your system in new ways.
•I can identify shaping options that work for me. (one, several, many)
•I engage regularly with practices to shape my system. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I use shaping practices from multiple sources.
Sound |
Seldom |
Sometimes |
Usually |
Movement |
Seldom |
Sometimes |
Usually |
Environment |
Seldom |
Sometimes |
Usually |
Breath |
Seldom |
Sometimes |
Usually |
Touch |
Seldom |
Sometimes |
Usually |
Reflection |
Seldom |
Sometimes |
Usually |
•I have places in my home that nourish my nervous system. (not yet, working on it, yes)
•I have places at work that nourish my nervous system. (not yet, working on it, yes)
Chapter 7: Integrating Personal Progress Tracker
Use the following questions to explore the ways your new patterns are beginning to integrate and support you in navigating the world in new ways. Check in each week to notice the places where integration is taking root and the places that are calling for your attention.
•I see more than one option when making decisions. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I trust the choices I make. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I listen to my body. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I understand the messages my body is sending. (seldom, sometimwes, usually)
•I move through my daily activities with ease. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I recognize old response patterns as they happen. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I have ways to interrupt patterns that are no longer necessary. (one, several, many)
•I have ways to deepen new patterns. (one, several, many)
•I can restore my sense of regulation. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
Chapter 8: Connecting Personal Progress Tracker
Use the following questions to explore the ways you are feeling more connected to your own experience, to others, and to the world around you. Check in each week to bring awareness to your personal pathways to connection.
•I feel safe with other people. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I keep my social engagement system alive and online. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I know when my connection with others is out of balance. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I take action to come back into balance. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I know the kinds of connections I need to feel regulated. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I feel compassion for others. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I am self-compassionate. (seldom, sometimes, usually)
•I have experiences of gratitude and awe. (seldom, sometimes, usually)