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We’ve identified the glitch. Now, let’s analyze the code.

In this week's main episode of Four Names for Thunder, we explored "The Secret"—the childhood survival strategy that kept us silent for decades. We introduced the medical concept of the "Guarding Reflex" to explain why we froze instead of fighting back.

In this Aftershock companion episode, we run a deep-dive analysis on those themes. Using AI-assisted modeling to break down the narrative, we look at the specific cultural and psychological forces that made Gen X the "perfect generation for secrets."

In this system debrief, we discuss:

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• The Guarding Reflex: A tactical look at how your psychological "muscles" locked down around the trauma to prevent further injury—and why they never learned to relax.
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• The "Stranger Danger" Glitch: How the 80s cultural obsession with "white vans" blinded us to the danger inside our own homes.
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• The Latchkey Isolation: Why being "self-sufficient" at age 10 wasn't a badge of honor, but a recipe for isolation.
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• The "Safe Person" Protocol: Practical criteria for identifying who is (and who is not) safe to tell your story to today.
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Mentioned in this episode:

• The "Guarding Reflex" (Medical Metaphor).
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• The "Stranger Danger" Era.
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• The 4 Criteria of a Safe Person.
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Join the System Reboot: Ready to test the "Safe Person" protocol? Join our private community of men working the steps: [Link]

Next Up: On Tuesday, we move to The Shadow—the decades of running that followed The Secret.

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