Most humans know we are born story creators, story tellers, and story receivers. What is less well known is that the body is the keeper of those stories too traumatizing for us to integrate at the time of their unfolding. These can be stories describing events that happen to us personally, that happen to our loved ones, and/or that happen to strangers whose plight comes to us through various news outlets.
The first kind of story is a primary trauma, that is, a trauma that is personal. The second and third, are called secondary or vicarious traumas. Although the traumas we hear about or see unfolding do not happen to us directly, our mirror neurons ensure that our bodies feel as if they are happening to us as well. All painful stories, whether ours, our loved ones’ (including our pets), or our fellow humans’ hundreds or thousands of miles away, live in our flesh as reactivity – the autonomic nervous system’s trauma high-alert warnings meant to keep us safe – until we find a way to integrate their wisdom and insights into our personal sense of wholeness.
Developing a story creating, story telling, and story receiving practice that supports the safe integration of even the worst of our own and others’ stories marks the beginning of our return to wholenss, that physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual conviction that we are enough as we are, that we are deserving of love and respect, and that we are able to meet any challenges we experience with competence and trust. Integration of trauma stories is not a fast- and-easy process, but it is a thorough and enriching one. Once we safely integrate a traumatizing story, we are free from automatic, unpredictable reactivity such as flashbacks, negative self talk, and fighting, fleeing, or freezing.
When we have integrated traumatic stories, should we feel called to share, we can revisit these stories’ gifts and cautions without retraumatizing ourselves or others.
Supporing others in creating a safe story-telling and integration practice has been my purpose in creating ACEs, Adult Trauma, and the Return to Wholeness / Reflections and Tools for the Journey. Over the course of my personal healing journey, I discovered and reshaped these tools by hit and miss, often spending far too much time in disempowered states that left me feeling impotent and isolated.
It is my desire that this booklet save readers from feelings of helplessness by providing tools and reflections that will guide them to form their own potent integration practice. The tools are free, always available, and highly effective in employing both hemispheres of the brain in their use. This whole-brain approach leads to the undeniability of our own wholeness. It also opens doors to community actions that effectively address the major challenges of our time.
COMING SOON!
ADVERSE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES , ADULT TRAUMA, and THE RETURN to WHOLENESS
Reflections and Tools for the Journey