Have you experienced a trauma in your life? We don’t always see what we’ve experienced as a trauma.
Painful, difficult, mind-boggling events happen in our world every day. We are shocked, dismayed, angry, disoriented, confused, and afraid. What happened to the world we once knew we say to ourselves. Innocence is lost. We do not know where or how to find our footing or ground ourselves. This experience is trauma. Any experience that our mind can not make sense of throws our psyche into disarray. This is the very definition of trauma, and it need not be a violent crime or serious accident. Given the right circumstances, simple every day occurrences can be trauma inducing.
OPPORTUNITY AWAITS US
Any event we experience in life, no matter how confusing or alarming, also offer us an opportunity. When every we experience contrast, we have the option to choose one or the other. When questions arise out of our confusion we are invited to dig deeper.
The question that most often arises is “why is this happening to me”. This is a trick question and only diverts our attention away from the harder questions. It is one that has no answer but will waste our time and drive us crazy as we struggle to answer it.
BENEATH THE SURFACE OF TRAUMA
When we look beneath the why question, we come to the how and what questions, and the answers that will bring us home to our soul self. For example, when we ask, “How am I to understand what is happening to me in a larger context?” or, “What can I learn about who I am and my place in the world from this experience?”, we are heading in the right direction.
Will I dwell in anger, or, live in fear? Or, will I look for the cosmic meaning and purpose for myself and the world? Will I give in to victim-hood, or will I go inward and forward, by building trust and deeper, more honest connections? When we look for the choice point in this way, we are driven to ask more difficult and more important questions. Then, we offered a choice.
Each and every time we reach a choice point while taking time to listen to our inner guidance we have the opportunity to choose. Our choosing and acting upon our choice not only strengthens us but anchors us more profoundly in our soul self. When we spend life skimming the surface, afraid to ask what we believe, instead only asking what we “think” we miss out on the vastness and the mystery that is awaiting us. It is only our fear that holds us hostage – our fear of emptiness, void, silence, nothingness, annihilation. Only… fear. Not reality. HOPE is always ours for the asking.
When the world knocks you about and you feel as though you’re living in a foreign land, come home to your soul self. It is always there, waiting for you. You will recognize it as the place inside of you that is safe, familiar, and always sane. We all have this place . . . the core, essential, authentic place in our being.
After many years of providing a home and helping to care for my severely disabled sister, and aging mother, I was at a crossroad. The care they required had become too much and too expensive to provide at home. We placed my mother in a skilled nursing facility (thanks to Medicaid), and found a board and care home for my sister.
The experience has been quite traumatic for all of us. Now we are trying to heal and move on from the anger, guilt, despair, and hopelessness we had all suffered.
Hope is definitely key in overcoming the troubles life brings our way. Thank you for your perspective.
I’m glad you stopped by, Joni. These experiences change our perspective. I wish you healing and a chance to live your own life again.