Pattern A — Connection
Safety → Reciprocity
Safety-organized regulation supporting connection, reciprocity, and shared repair. When the nervous system detects safety, it organizes around engagement rather than defense.
This is the default human state — not because it is morally superior, but because it is metabolically sustainable. Connection is where the nervous system wants to return when conditions allow.
The Five Axes Configuration
How regulation organizes across each dimension in Pattern A.
What Pattern A Enables
These are not personality traits — they are state-dependent capacities.
Learning and neuroplasticity
Calm regulation supports memory formation and the integration of new information.
Relational repair
Misattunements can be addressed without escalation or defensive shutdown.
Shared meaning-making
Perspectives and goals can be coordinated across differences.
Paradox tolerance
Both/and thinking becomes possible; complexity is not threatening.
Accountability without collapse
Feedback can be received and integrated without destabilizing the sense of self.
When Pattern A Is Not Available
When connection and co-regulation are not available as regulatory options, the nervous system cannot use relationship to regulate itself. It must regulate some other way — through protection, control, or domination.
This is the key shift that happens under chronic or unrecognized threat: Pattern A stops being available as a reference point. The system forgets what safety with others feels like.
Read more: When Awareness Is Limited →