Episode Summary:
In this insightful episode, David and Nick dive deep into the topic of disassociation and trauma, exploring how these experiences shape our relationship with ourselves and our ability to live in alignment. The conversation unpacks the subtle and not-so-subtle ways we abandon ourselves—whether through trauma responses, daily distractions, or coping mechanisms—and how the Aligned Living System offers tools to recognize and return to our true selves.

Key Topics Discussed:

• The nature of disassociation as a response to trauma, from major events to everyday discomforts.
• Personal stories about leaving the body, high pain thresholds, and the realization that these are often signs of practiced disassociation rather than strength.
• How disassociation shows up in common experiences like ADHD, daydreaming, and even social media or sugar cravings.
• The concept of “parking spots”—personalized places we go to avoid ourselves, such as anger, victimhood, or distraction.
• The importance of awareness: once you recognize disassociation, it becomes a choice rather than an unconscious reaction.
• The “veneer” of trauma and coping mechanisms, and the freedom that comes from realizing these barriers are often thin and can be moved through.
• The role of Aligned Living tools in helping us catch ourselves when we start to abandon who we truly are, and how to return to alignment quickly.
• The cost of disassociation and the power of making self-abandonment feel “gross” so that we naturally return to our authentic selves.
• Reflections on how societal and workplace expectations can encourage us to wear different personas, and how unresolved trauma often underlies this behavior.
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Memorable Quotes:

• “Disassociation is basically leaving our alignment. We’re abandoning ourselves and going into some other story, some other version. of ourselves”
• “When we don’t abandon ourselves, when we don’t disassociate from who we truly are, something very different starts happening.”
• “Once you have the awareness of it, then it is a choice.”
• “Aligned Living is claiming who you are, being that, and making whenever you’re being anything else feel gross.”

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