What Therapy Can Teach Us About Taking Risks Part 2: The Opposite of Fear Might Be Enchantment
Our previous blog unpacked the role of fear, looking at how it works in the body, shapes our decisions, and keeps us stuck. We looked at how creativity and change can stir up fear, and how getting curious about it can be the first step toward movement.
Some clients describe their inner experience like a storm; loud, looping, hard to interrupt. Others feel something harder to name, like a flatness, a fog, or a sense that calm or joy are far away. This kind of emotional numbness can be just as distressing, and just as misunderstood. For many people, it’s not a high-alert fear response they’re living in, but something muted and unreachable.
In therapy, we talk about survival responses like fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. What’s less talked about is what happens after. When you’ve spent a long time bracing for impact, constantly managing threats—emotional, relational, physical—it can be difficult to come back into your body. Even when you’re no longer in danger, your nervous system may still be operating as if you are.
Fear, in those moments, can feel like a scary movie playing in the mind. You know you’re safe, but your body hasn’t gotten the message. Enchantment offers a counterpoint: not a fix, not a high, but a felt experience. It lives in your senses. It doesn’t demand that you chase it; it waits for you to notice.
Understanding Enchantment vs. Escapism
Enchantment is not something we earn, produce, or crave. It’s a moment of warmth, ease, or quiet that arrives without effort. Some people describe it as a soft exhale or a sense of presence they didn’t realize they were missing.
Unlike distraction, enchantment doesn’t pull us away from ourselves. It brings us back. It isn’t driven by dopamine or urgency. It doesn’t look like a reward, a habit, or a coping mechanism. You don’t have to scroll, achieve, or escape to access it. These moments are often right at our fingertips... small, sensory cues that say, “You’re here. You’re safe enough.”
Of course, not everyone feels this right away. If you’ve lived in survival mode, enchantment might feel unfamiliar or even unreachable. That doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. It means your body has been protecting you, and it may take time to notice anything different. You don’t have to force it. You just have to stay open to the possibility that feeling good doesn’t have to come from chasing a high. Sometimes it comes from standing still.
Fear Lives in the Mind, Enchantment Lives in the Body
Intrusive thoughts and chronic worry stem from the brain’s threat response. They often feel like cognitive overload, like loops of what-ifs, worst-case scenarios, or mental rehearsals for things that haven’t happened. But the body feels it too. Muscles tense. Breath shortens. You may not even realize how much effort it takes to stay alert until something shifts.
Enchantment doesn’t follow the same pattern. It doesn’t come from control or vigilance. It shows up through the senses, often when you least expect it. The moments may seem small, but they signal something important: your parasympathetic nervous system is coming online. This is the part of your body that allows for rest, connection, and calm. Fear limits, but enchantment allows.
Support for Nervous System Healing
In therapy, models like IFS, somatic therapy, and polyvagal theory give us different ways to understand how the body holds both fear and ease. IFS might explore the protective parts of us that brace or overfunction. Somatic therapy helps us track where those patterns live in the body. Polyvagal theory teaches us that safety isn’t just a concept; it’s a physiological state. These approaches help us notice the small shifts, the softening, the moments when our system begins to allow for something different.
Everyday Practices to Explore
Think of these as entry points. Not solutions, but gentle ways to reconnect with your senses and your body.
Make a Sensory Enchantment List
Try jotting down sensory experiences that offer even a brief sense of ease or connection. For example:
The feeling of sunlight on your skin
A hot shower
The smell of coffee
The texture of sand under your feet
A deep, grounding massage
Your list doesn’t have to be long or profound. It just needs to feel real to you.
Try a Somatic Check-In
This simple practice helps bring awareness back to your body, even for a few seconds. Start with:
Pause and notice one small thing that feels okay in your environment
It could be a sound, a texture, a color, a scent, or a breath
Let yourself register the sensation without judgment
Then ask yourself: Where do I feel this in my body?
Why Nervous System Work Is Foundational
When fear or vigilance have shaped the way you move through the world, settling into your body can feel unfamiliar. Even subtle moments of calm may register as risky or strange. This is a normal part of healing, especially for those whose nervous systems have adapted to survive uncertainty or threat.
In therapy, practices like polyvagal theory, somatic work, and parts-based approaches like IFS can support the process of reconnecting. But this isn’t limited to therapy. It’s also about what happens between sessions, like what you notice, what you respond to, and what helps you soften instead of shut down.
Enchantment can be one of those responses. Not as a goal or a fix, but as a sign that you’re inhabiting your body again. That your system is learning to recognize safety, even in brief moments. That’s not small. It’s evidence of change.