processing trauma

Communication & Complex Trauma

May 18, 2020 By gwynn

Listen with curiosity. Speak with honesty. Act with integrity. The greatest problem with communication is we don’t listen to understand. We listen to reply. When we listen with curiosity, we don’t listen with the intent to reply. We listen for what’s behind the words. ~Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone. ~Fred Rogers

The trauma said, “Don’t write these poems.
Nobody wants to hear you cry
about the grief inside your bones.”

But my bones said, “Tyler Clementi jumped
from the George Washington Bridge
into the Hudson River convinced
he was entirely alone.”

My bones said, “Write the poems.”
~Andrea Gibson,The Madness Vase

One of the most important parts of any relationship is communication. In order for there to be good communication, both people need to be able to express themselves verbally, in a relatively non-defensive and non-abusive or non-harmful manner. Both parties need to be able to take the risk of being vulnerable, of expressing their wants and needs. Both parties also need to be able to truly listen and hear what the other person is trying to communicate to us.

This of course makes sense. I believe this is what most of us strive for.

But it is so fucking hard in practice.

It’s challenging because we each have trauma coursing through our bodies, living in our nervous systems. We each received messaging, either overtly or subvertly, that our wants and needs don’t matter, that we should just be happy if someone loves us and not complain.

Many of us learned in one way or another that expressing our wants or needs is actually dangerous. Perhaps we were physically abused for crying or “whining.” Perhaps we witnessed siblings or one of our caregivers receiving violence for expressing themselves. Perhaps our bids for affection were met with coldness or further isolation. Perhaps we were ridiculed for being “sensitive” or “weak” or “soft.”

Regardless of the specific whys, we got the message loud and clear that expressing our wants and needs wasn’t okay, wasn’t acceptable, wasn’t safe.

So, it makes sense that as adults we have a very challenging time expressing our wants and needs.

It makes sense it is challenging.

It doesn’t make sense that we may (unconsciously) expect others to be mind readers.

How many times have you thought or said or heard “Well, if they loved me they’d know what’s wrong!”? Or “I shouldn’t have to tell you why I’m upset, you should know!”

This narrative is actually a cloak for our own hurt and fear that our own feelings don’t matter. That we don’t matter to the other person (and look, there’s proof! They can’t read our mind!). That we aren’t actually lovable.

Learning to communicate in productive, connecting ways takes practice. Lots of practice. It requires us to look at and work through some of our own wounding. It requires us to come into our bodies so we can have some felt sense around what is happening for us – if past wounds are being poked, if something new is growing, if it’s a combination of both (usually it’s a combination).

It takes practice to become curious and ask questions instead of making assumptions about what another person is thinking or feeling.

It takes practice to actually ask another person if they can meet a want or need of ours in that moments, instead of demanding it from them.

It takes practice communicating our desires and boundaries without expectations for how the other “should” respond.

This all takes practice. It takes patience, from all parties. It takes messing up and getting it all wrong. It takes a willingness to be vulnerable, to take some risks in sharing something a bit more intimate about ourselves.

This is what it means to break patterns and cycles. It requires us to actually do the very messy and challenging and uncomfortable work of disrupting these generations old ways of relating that cause harm, to the others, to our relationships, and ultimately to our Self.

It not glorious work. It isn’t fun. It can be painful. As we disrupt these patterns, we will likely lose people. There will be grief. There will be days we just don’t want to do it anymore.

And.

There will be days when we realize we are in a situation where once we would have lost our shit and here we are, relatively calm, figuring it out.

There will be days we feel such intense joy and happiness that all we can do is cry.

There will be days where we know, deep in our bones, how cherished we are, how loved we are, how lovable we are.

Both and.

Yes it is intense work. And in my personal experience, it is so intensely worth it.

/../

This essay was originally written for my weekly-ish newsletter on May 10, 2020. It has been edited for publication here. To receive my most recent essays and learn about my online offerings, you can subscribe here.

Breaking patterns, disrupting cycles, & accountability

April 20, 2020 By gwynn

Healing can only happen when people are willing to shift. ~Iyanla Vanzant

Much too often, our minds are used to somewhat efficiently excuse and justify old patterns, when the same energy and efforts could go towards the creating of new ones. Our society is, meanwhile, deeply enamored with technological creation, invention, and marvels. Many of these technological advancements assist with life as it is, however, the creation of new patterns of behavior and ways of life remains largely unexplored. ~Sabina Nore, 22 Triggers

True accountability is not only apologizing, understanding the impact your actions have caused on yourself and others, making amends or reparations to the harmed parties; but most importantly, true accountability is changing your behavior so that the harm, violence, abuse does not happen again. ~Mia Mingus

Looking back on my thirteen years of motherhood, there is so much I would do different, if I could go back in time and start all over again. There were so many mistakes. So much I got wrong. So many patterns and cycles that I continued. So many I am still working on breaking.

And.

There is so much I got right, and I would do it the same way again. There were patterns I have been able to break, cycles I have been able to disrupt.

It is the both and.

All our relationships are often like that.

There are moments we look back on and wish with every fiber of our being we had made another choice, done something different. And then there are the moments that we look back on and breathe a sigh of yes, that one, that I got right.

Hindsight is nearly always 20/20. Looking back we have a clearer view of those moments, the ones that mattered, the ones that didn’t. The ones that were defining, the ones that weren’t. The ones that didn’t feel significant at the time, but turned out to be. Those moments we didn’t know would be the last, the times we thought we would always have another chance, more time, but it didn’t turn out that way.

We all carry within us patterns and cycles passed on to us by our families of origin, by our genetic ancestors, and by our culture. We have a choice, to a certain degree, to break and disrupt those cycles, to create change, to do different than what was done to us, to do different than what was done before.

I say to a certain degree, because we can’t break a pattern unless we become aware of it. This requires not only our ability to look back at past generations, but also an ability to look objectively at ourselves.

We need to be able to see the ways we have perpetuated these cycles. The ways we have continued the patterns.

This requires us to have a certain level of self-awareness. I believe it also requires us to have the ability to give ourselves self-compassion, to not dive into shame spirals and defensiveness. To be able to explain the whys of the harm we ourselves have participated in, but not make excuses for it.

There are no excuses for causing harm to others, or ourselves for that matter. Regardless of what was done to us in the past. Regardless of what was done to our ancestors.

In order to break these patterns and cycles we need to be willing to hold ourselves accountable.

Accountability, has four basic components.** These are:

Self reflection
Apology
Repair
Changed behavior

**From Mia Mingus

We need to be willing, and able, to do all four. It requires our ability to be wrong, and to actually change our behavior in the future. And in order to change behaviors, we need to do the work of unraveling, untangling, and processing the trauma that lives within us.

It is not glamorous or fun work.

It is work most people avoid doing. I get it. I understand why. It is hard and brutal to process the trauma that lives within us. To do the accompanying grief work. To move into liminal space and unknown territory of doing different. Of making change.

Of actually breaking and disrupting, and not repeating and perpetuating, old patterns and cycles of harm.

Even in the this work of doing different, we will still get some things wrong. Which is why self-compassion is so important. Which is why accountability, and our own willingness to go deep within ourselves and look at our own shadows, is so important. Which is why we need to remember that we are all only human, to make space for forgiveness when appropriate (and I do not believe it is always appropriate).

I have spent the last thirteen years practicing accountability with my daughter. Believe me, there have been ample opportunities for me to practice! And almost daily there are more opportunities. I practice it with my son. I am learning to practice it with my friends and lovers.

Accountability is vulnerable. It is a vulnerable space to move into admitting we have caused harm and taking ownership of it. It requires that we be able to hold the disappointment, hurt, and or frustration that we caused, of someone we love; and it requires that we process our own grief that comes with it.

It all takes intention, practice, and time. Life will give us plenty of opportunities. A vital piece is remembering the importance of doing our own work of breaking the patterns and cycles still alive in us, in between each new opportunity.

This is how we create change in the world :: by doing our individual work and the work of healing and creating a loving relationships with those in our lives. It means we will each be in the wrong, and this needs to be okay in the sense that we accept our responsibility and do the work of repair and change.

/../

This essay was originally published in my weekly(ish) newsletter on April 12, 2020. It has been edited for publication here. To receive my most recent essays, you can subscribe here.

We’ll be exploring these ideas in the seven week course Embodied Writing :: Relating, Relationships, & Trauma. You can learn more and register here.

Activated, softening, or both

April 13, 2020 By gwynn

The heart of another is a dark forest, always, no matter how close it has been to one’s own. ~Willa Cather

If we turn away from our own pain, we may find ourselves projecting this aversion onto others, seeing them as somehow inadequate for being in a troubled situation. ~Sharon Salzberg, Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection

Traumatized people chronically feel unsafe inside their bodies: The past is alive in the form of gnawing interior discomfort. Their bodies are constantly bombarded by visceral warning signs, and, in an attempt to control these processes, they often become expert at ignoring their gut feelings and in numbing awareness of what is played out inside. They learn to hide from their selves. ~Bessel A. van der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

We cannot have a world where everyone is a victim. “I’m this way because my father made me this way. I’m this way because my husband made me this way.” Yes, we are indeed formed by traumas that happen to us. But then you must take charge, you must take over, you are responsible. ~Camille Paglia

Many of us across the globe are staying home in an attempt to flatten the curve of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. We aren’t leaving for work or play. We are within our four walls every day of the week, almost every single hour – with the occasional exception to leave and get groceries or other necessities.

This can have us all a little stir crazy. Developing “cabin fever” as we are also trying to manage the stress of the present along with any old traumas that may be activated right now because of what is happening both out in the world and with our own friends and families.

The stress, frustration, and grief centered around the present moments mixed with the same around our past wounding, can lead us to not always being our best selves.

We don’t have much control over the current global pandemic. We can each do our own part to try to flatten the curve and stay home as much as possible and to practice physical distancing when we are out and about. And that is all any of us can do.

This lack of control may have us agitated.

Add to this all our usual distractions aren’t available to us – sports broadcasts have halted, bars are closed, as are restaurants and retail stores. The ways we avoid, ignore, and stuff down our feelings; the ways we avoid dealing with our past and current hurts, pain, and trauma – they are mostly gone.

This leaves us almost no other choice than to sit with our own stuff.

This too, can be highly agitating.

In our own agitation we may find ourselves being short with others. We may find ourselves picking fights. We may find ourselves stuck in a cycle of blame and shame – blaming another for how we are feeling and acting while also feeling shame around how we feeling and acting.

We are in an unprecedented time. This can be a time of healing – if we allow it to be. This can be a time to begin to learn to sit with our own uncomfortable feelings (emotions and their physical sensations) – if we allow it to be. This can be a time of learning and practicing breaking life long and generations old patterns and cycles of harm – to ourselves and others — if we allow it to be.

Many of us are in a heightened state of activation. This true. It is also true that even with this, we are still responsible for our actions. For the ways we treat those close to us. For the ways we show up, for ourselves and for others. For the ways we use this time, when all our go-to distractions are unavailable.

And while many of us are in a heightened state of activation, it is also true that many of us are in a heightened state of softening. That our hearts are breaking open even more, that the remaining bits of our hard armor are falling away, that we are in this time gently shifting into new ways of being with each other and with ourselves.

And it is true that for many of us, we are moving back and forth between heightened activation and softening.

As we move through these challenging and unprecedented times, I invite us to come back into our bodies, to be present to the myriad of conflicting and complimentary emotions and physiological sensations we are experiencing. I invite us to seek out new ways of being with ourselves, to find ways to break old harmful patterns and cycles. I invite us to soften, to become gentler, with ourselves and others. I invite us to find ways to inner peace within the outer chaos. I invite us to nurture, to provide loving care, to ourselves and others.

I invite us to a new way of being in the world. One that gathers together in community, even when we cannot physically gather. One that cares for one another instead of only looking out for ourselves. One that shares in the abundance instead hoard out of fear of scarcity. One that guides us to peace and love and joy as well as creates space for feeling, processing, and allowing the flow of upset, loss, and grief.

Let us all be a part of a global revolution of change. To acknowledge our fear and to do it anyway. To step into the unknown, with open hearts and open arms -for ourselves, for others, and for our planet.

/../

This essay was originally published in my weeklyish newsletter on April 4, 2020. It has been revised and edited for publication here. To receive my most recent essays, subscribe here.

In Embodied Writing :: Relating, relationships, and trauma we will be exploring how trauma impacts our relationships and ways that we can begin to break (often generations old) patterns and cycles. You can learn more and register here.

Moving into softness

March 26, 2020 By gwynn

If we turn away from our own pain, we may find ourselves projecting this aversion onto others, seeing them as somehow inadequate for being in a troubled situation. ~Sharon Salzberg,Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection

Attachment is a unifying principle that reaches from the biological depths of our being to its furthest spiritual reaches. ~Jeremy Holmes, John Bowlby and Attachment Theory

Why do people have to be this lonely? What’s the point of it all? Millions of people in this world, all of them yearning, looking to others to satisfy them, yet isolating themselves. Why? Was the earth put here just to nourish human loneliness? ~Haruki Murakami, Sputnik Sweetheart

As we adjust to our “new normal” and social distancing, many of us staying “safe at home”, our anxiety may be running rampant. As we are either in close quarters with those we normally live with or are alone because that is our normal, we may find ourselves feeling frustrated and our attachment wounds being activated.

This can have us turning to all kinds of unhelpful or even harmful behaviors. Behaviors that we developed at a young age that were meant to either keep us alive, or are meant to try and get our attachment needs met (in perhaps a very backwards sort of way).

We may find ourselves picking fights.

Pushing people away.

Feeling “clingy” and demanding.

Allowing (untrue, harmful, and hurtful) narratives about others or about ourselves to run rampant in our heads.

Falling back into ultimately harmful relationships (and remember, a relationship doesn’t need to be outright abusive for it to be harmful, any relationship that keeps us stuck in repeating hurtful patterns and cycle and doesn’t encourage our healing and growth, is harmful).

Our anxiety may be over the top.

Our fear of abandonment may be going wild.

So much is happening in our minds and bodies right now as we move through this unprecedented and totally unknown space.

We can find ourselves becoming rigid.

Hard.

Immovable.

Ultimately stuck, stagnant, repeating patterns and cycles that hurt us and others.

Now is the time for us to slow down.

To find ways to calm our systems, take a half step (or more) back, and to consider situations from a more rational place.

A time to examine if the reaction we are having is based in an old trauma, the present situation, or some combination of the two.

A time to consider how our past pain and hurts are impacting us in the present.

A time to find new, helpful ways, of soothing our systems. Of managing our overwhelm.

A time to shift into softness.

To connect to compassion, for ourselves and others.

To find ways to be more vulnerable, with people who are safe enough.

To explore our own wants, our needs, our desires, for our relationships, for our world, for our Self.

To nurture our own bodies and minds, those we care about and for, our planet.

To consider what fulfills us, what ignites our passions, what gives us a sense of abundance.

To expand, to transform, to evolve.

To move into softness is counter-intuitive when our fear response is activated. It is challenging to do even in the best of times. We live in a culture that encourages us to disconnect, to judge, to be harsh and hard.

Moving into softness can be challenging. It requires self-awareness and a willingness to shift, to grow, to transform. It asks us to come home into our bodies, to learn to sit in the discomfort of our emotions and their bodily sensations, to expand our windows of tolerance so we can respond to situations with love for ourselves, others, and our relationships.

We are in challenging and complex times. Finding ways to calm our systems, to rest, to allow the space for our own evolution is vital. We are at a precipice in the collective, a time for us to decide if we want to continue on in the harmful ways, destroying our relationships and planet, or if we want to shift into a nurturance culture, one of caring, of compassion, of coming together and lovingly encouraging each other to expand outside our comfort zones, to break generations old patterns and cycles, to revolt against all that keeps us apart and to evolve into the people, and the society, we have always dreamed of.

/../

This essay was originally written for my weeklyish newsletter and has been edited for publication here. To receive my most recent essays, you can subscribe here.

Last weekend Sarah Martland (Founder of Trauma & Co) met to figure out ways we can support our community right now. We have changed the pricing the the Trauma & Co Community to make it more accessible to more people, and we’ve also made some changes to what all will be offered in it. We have also brought an offering planned for later this year forward, as well as added an extra pricing level. You can learn more about Resourcing for Complex Times: Supporting Ourselves Through Challenging Experiences here.

Managing our stress & anxiety in challenging times

March 19, 2020 By gwynn

The bodies of traumatized people portray “snapshots” of their unsuccessful attempts to defend themselves in the face of threat and injury. Trauma is a highly activated incomplete biological response to threat, frozen in time. For example, when we prepare to fight or to flee, muscles throughout our entire body are tensed in specific patterns of high energy readiness. When we are unable to complete the appropriate actions, we fail to discharge the tremendous energy generated by our survival preparations. This energy becomes fixed in specific patterns of neuromuscular readiness. The person then stays in a state of acute and then chronic arousal and dysfunction in the central nervous system. Traumatized people are not suffering from a disease in the normal sense of the word- they have become stuck in an aroused state. It is difficult if not impossible to function normally under these circumstances. ~Peter A. Levine

Unspeakable feelings need to find expression in words. However… verbalization of very intense feelings may be a difficult task. ~James A. Chu, Rebuilding Shattered Lives: Treating Complex PTSD and Dissociative Disorders

There is no one way to recover and heal from any trauma. Each survivor chooses their own path or stumbles across it. ~Laurie Matthew, Behind Enemy Lines

We are living in an unprecedented time. The current COVID-19 pandemic is having us “socially distance” from each other, while (in the US at least) schools, community centers, and libraries are closing their doors. We are being encouraged to stay at least six feet from other humans, to work from home, to “self-quarantine” while also receiving messages to go out and support local restaurants and other service based businesses, leaving us confused as to what is best for ourselves, our families, and our communities in general.

Add to this we have social media. And the internet. Which means access to information literally 24/7. This can be soothing to some and activating to others. The greater issue is the sometimes conflicting and misinformation.

This is all activating our survival response. This is all exacerbating our anxiety. This is all stressful and leaves us in a state of not being clear on what we should or shouldn’t be doing (other than washing our hands).

And.

Our need for connection, for belonging, is also increased right now. Our bodies are wired to be in community and groups when crisis arises. So when we are unable to connect to our communities, fear around our own survival (subconsciously and consciously) sets in.

Part of our fear response is denial. Denial that things are “that bad.” Denial that this crisis will affect us. Denial that we need to worry about it at all.

As a whole we are on a spectrum between denial (fear suppression) and holy fuck we’re all gonna die (full on fear overwhelm).

I write all that, to try and help normalize what your personal response is. What is happening for you. How we can be vacillating between being completely annoyed by this all to being completely terrified. How we simply feel lost in it all, are trying so hard to figure out what our new normal looks like and to accept that we don’t know how long this new normal will be for.

This is all deeply stressful.

For those of us with complex trauma, for those of us who need routine and stability and predictability, this is beyond unsettling.

This means that our practices of soothing and calming our nervous system are vital. Whatever they may be.

It means taking time to breathe. To rest. To be present with our people now.

It means allowing all the complex and sometimes conflicting feelings (emotions and sensations) to come through. To not deny our experience. To acknowledge where we are in this moment. Where ever that may be.

It means having compassion for our Self, our loved ones, and our communities, as we navigate this “new normal” and figure out what does and doesn’t work for us, our families, and the greater collective.

It means knowing that we are going to get some things wrong. It means those we love are going to get some things wrong. It means those we trust and respect are going to get some things wrong.

It means we are all stumbling. Trying to figure out how to support ourselves, our families, our friends, our communities.

It means there are no absolutely right or absolutely wrong answers or ways of being right now.

It means we are living in liminal space.

Which, whoa, our activated nervous systems DO NOT LIKE.

I invite you to allow yourself to stop. To take a breath or a beat to allow yourself to not be in reaction mode. To stop and just allow yourself to be, just for a moment. To stop and not make a single decision, just for a moment.

Remember to care for yourself. Remember that we absolutely can NOT be of service to anyone if we are in a state of constant overwhelm and or burn out. Remember that our families, our communities, and our own bodies and minds, need us to be caring for our self.

Self care is NOT selfish. It is necessary for survival.

It is especially necessary during times of crisis. Like now.

There is no “under-reacting” or “over-reacting” right now. These are unprecedented times. We absolutely do not know what to expect in the long or even short run. Our fear response is both valid and understandable AND needs to be managed (not suppressed, managed).

Reminding ourselves as best we can to create that pause between stimulus and response is important right now. Sometimes we will be able to do it and other times not. And that is okay.

Reminding ourselves to have compassion for ourselves AND others is important right now. Sometimes we will be able to and other times not. And that is okay.

Reminding ourselves that all our complicated, complex, and contradictory feelings are valid is important right now. Sometimes we will be able to do this and other times not. And that is okay.

Giving ourselves permission to show up as fully human, that is what matters. To let go of shame and shaming as much as we can.

We are truly all in this together. AND we need to take care of ourselves as we take care of each other. Be gentle. Be loving. Be kind. Be compassionate. Towards others, and most especially to your Self.

In rebellious solidarity, always.
xoox

/../

This essay was originally written for my weeklyish newsletter on March 15, 2020. It has been edited for publication here. To receive my recent essays, subscribe here.

If you are looking for resources and tools to help you regulate your system during this time, I invite you to explore our offering at Trauma & Co, Resourcing in Complex Times and or our Trauma & Co Community.

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