Last Updated on October 7, 2024

Fine tuning your nervous system

In the past, I’ve often felt like there’s something wrong with me.

I easily get out of tune.

And then I need a lot of downtime to regulate my sensitive nervous system.

Otherwise I get stressed, develop headaches or brain fog, and so on.

But then I learned about harps.

Tuning a harp

Imagine the beautiful sound of a harp (or listen to this as you read).

Hearing a harp playing can transport you to a different dimension.

It’s positively angelic.

That sweet sound is only partially due to a skilled musician.

It’s also because the harp is in tune!

In fact, harps are notorious for going out of tune quickly.

A piano will hold its tune for six months.

But a harp needs to be tuned much more often.

Regular tuning

Being neurodivergent, my nervous system is more harp than a piano.

I do best when I tune myself every day, if not every few hours.

The other day I was reading about tuning harps (as one does), and I found a website that said…

“Do not let it get very out of tune, and you can tune it accurately in a few minutes.

“A harp tuned only every Wednesday afternoon is out of tune by Wednesday evening, guaranteed.

“Tuning a harp once a week is painful, and may take 20 minutes or more.”

Reading this, I thought, “This is great advice for the sensitive nervous system!”

If I meditate or do slow breathing or Pattern Interrupt Methods just once a week, it’s pretty painful.

And I’m “out of tune” a few hours later.

But if I “don’t let it get very out of tune,” I can get back to feeling good quickly.

Frequency is key

The harp tuning advice went on to say…

“Practice tuning every day. … The more you tune, the less you need to tune.

“The harp gets used to holding its pitch so there is less tuning to do, and you get better and faster at tuning by practicing.”

I’ve often found this to be true of “tuning” myself.

If I meditate once a day in the morning for 30 minutes, that’s good.

But if I also do a few quick meditations of 2-5 minutes throughout the day, that’s even better!

It’s like once I access a resourceful state, it’s much easier to come back to it.

My nervous system gets used to holding the resourceful state, the “higher vibration” if you will.

Does this resonate?

Meditation teacher Shinzen Young calls this “microhits” of meditation.

That’s when you do 1-10 minutes of something, multiple times a day.

It seems too simple to work, but I find it really helps!

If you have a sensitive nervous system, you might try this idea for yourself.

Instead of chasing more and more skill development because you think there’s something wrong with you, maybe you just need more frequent tuning.

Because when you’re in tune, all your skills can emerge beautifully.

And if you’ve been out of tune for a long time, you might need to tune multiple times to get back into attunement, back into feeling good again.

Then you can get back to resonating with your truest self.

There’s nothing wrong with a harp just because it needs to be tuned more often than a piano.

Both can make beautiful music, in their own way.

Take care,

 

 

 

~Duff
(they/them)

P.S. If you want support in getting and staying in tune more often, you can sign up for a free 30-minute consultation.