GM 🌞 Just a gentle reminder that #trauma is the combination of pain and fear.

When the pain and fear are extreme, people naturally develop post traumatic stress symptoms. These symptoms vary, but they are usually some manifestation of a chronically elevated fight, flight, or freeze system.

There are three stages of trauma recovery:

1) Safety & Stabilization- no one can start healing while they are still in an unsafe or unstable environment.

2) Processing & Integrating- this is best done with a guide or therapist to be your ‘empathetic witness’ to your painful and fearful experiences. Processing is when we recount our experiences and think critically about them, and integrating is when we accept our experiences and weave them into the story of our identity in a way that empowers us.

3) Trusting & Reconnecting- this might be the hardest phase of all. Being able to trust and be vulnerable again after being traumatized by other people is the hardest, but small steps are still steps. Celebrate your wins.

Thinking today of all who are still living in the thick of some of the most harrowing trauma I’ve ever seen through a tiny phone screen. May we grow in compassion to relieve the suffering of our dear brothers and sisters, so they may begin healing.

#ptsd #healing #worldpeace