UNDERSTANDING TRAUMA

 

A terrible event becomes traumatic when the meaning I make of what happened diminishes my sense of self and my ability to feel and express a full range of emotions. An event that overwhelms my ability to cope does not have to have traumatic impact.  Trauma occurs with unprocessed emotions and limiting belief systems.   An event becomes more traumatic when I believe, for any reason, that I cannot talk about and release feelings stirred in my experience.  If I do risk communicating about what happened, and the person listening doesn’t believe me, mocks, tries to fix, blames or judges me, trauma is exacerbated.  If I’ve experienced any previous distressing and disturbing events, trauma is exacerbated.  The longer I keep the experience, feelings and memories inside, the more stuck and habituated I become, the greater the risk of inflammation, pain, chronic disease and all kinds of emotional and mental health challenges.  Thankfully, science has discovered that we can rewire our brains.  We can create new neural pathways and reclaim the fullness of who we are.  Many breakthrough approaches ease access to the well of self compassion, the key to healing.