Description Foreword by Bessel van der Kolk Part 1: Life on the Hamster Wheel Chapter 1: Stone Age Physiology in a Digital World Chapter 2: How We Ignore the Continuity of Stress and Trauma Part 2: The Science Behind the Window of Tolerance Chapter 3: The Grand Canyon of the Mind-Body System—Neuroplasticity and Epigenetics Chapter 4: The Body During Stress and Trauma Chapter 5: The Brain During Stress and Trauma Chapter 6: Parents and Attachment Styles Chapter 7: Childhood Adversity Chapter 8: Shock Trauma Chapter 9: Daily Life Chapter 10: Hyperarousal/Hypoarousal Part 3: Widening the Window of Tolerance Chapter 11: The Warrior Tradition Chapter 12: The Alliance Between the Thinking Brain and the Survival Brain Chapter 13: Building Resilience Through Recovery: Micro-Level Agency, Part 1 Chapter 14: Accessing Choice Amid Stress, Emotion, and Chronic Pain: Micro-Level Agency, Part 2 Chapter 15: Skillfully Handling Limits and Resistance: Macro-Level Agency, Part 1 Chapter 16: Thriving Amid Uncertainty and Change: Macro-Level Agency, Part 2 Chapter 17: Choosing Habits That Widen the Window of Tolerance: Structural Conditions for Building Agency Chapter 18: Widening the Collective Window of Tolerance Appendix Acknowledgments Endnotes Recommended by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, world-renowned authority on trauma treatment Are you living a life where you simply endure and push through stress and trauma? Discover the practice of widening your 'window of tolerance'—a path to restoring your body and mind and leading a fulfilling, happy life. Everyone experiences stress and wounds throughout life, whether they realize it or not. Modern people, in particular, who must constantly compete to win and achieve, endure even more stress and injury. As a result, we become worn down mentally and physically, often experiencing lethargy, depression, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, insomnia, and even PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). In simple terms, this means experiencing trauma. Although stress and trauma are closely and continuously linked, our society as a whole often overlooks this connection. This is because trauma is commonly believed to arise only in people who have experienced a deeply shocking incident. However, trauma does not simply stem from a single moment that fades with time. Rather, it builds up from countless small fragments—emotions, behaviors, sensations, images, and thoughts—stored outside of conscious awareness, accumulating as stress until it manifests as physical and mental symptoms. Unwanted emotional, sensory, and behavioral post-traumatic responses are said to arise from the survival brain and autonomic nervous system, independent of conscious control. In other words, trauma can develop without our conscious awareness. As a result, many people fail to recognize—or simply deny—that they are struggling with trauma, which leads them to push themselves even harder, perpetuating a vicious cycle. Elizabeth Stanley, a former soldier and licensed clinical therapist who has herself suffered from trauma, offers a solution to break this cycle: widening the window of tolerance within our minds. The 'window of tolerance' refers to the range within which humans can withstand external threats or stimuli. Formed roughly 200,000 years ago as a system to respond to external dangers, the window of tolerance regulates our stress levels and plays a crucial role in our survival—from split-second decisions during extreme stress or crisis to the everyday choices we make. When we operate within our window of tolerance, we can handle stress appropriately, no matter what situation arises. Having herself experienced trauma from childhood experiences and accumulated stress, Elizabeth Stanley candidly shares her own story in Chapter 1. Her confession seems to challenge a society that often views trauma negatively, leaving many with no choice but to deny it. This book serves as a valuable roadmap to help individuals overcome stress and trauma and lead happier lives. At the same time, it encourages society to reflect on how we have long ignored stress and trauma, and to examine the underlying structures that worsen stress and trauma while undermining achievement and happiness—with the hope of building a better society. Through this book, the author presents fundamental methods for healing trauma and stress.