(A bit of my story. Trigger warning.) “In the arousal response … the brain will focus on the threat, tuning out any nonessential input from the body and the outside world.” This assault or threat response explanation by trauma expert Bruce Perry was spot on for me, and I thought I’d share a little bit of this experience — now that I’m more healed — because I’ve always found it really fascinating (though a bit disconcerting). Maybe you never knew exactly what your brain is capable of. It’s pretty cool! When the sexual predator grabbed me, I had only a
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When I woke up this morning, I didn’t feel particularly inspired by the 4th of July holiday. I felt a heaviness, the weight of “just another day” in this seemingly broken country that is in the midst of skyrocketing COVID-19 infections, political instability and civil strife. How do I celebrate this messiness and pain? Then I thought of it from a different perspective, one of trauma and healing. And Potential. Yes, we are still in the middle of a societal trauma that has been costly in human life, economic loss and mental health. Setting politics aside, I think everyone can
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I think most of us in the United States can agree: The last three months have felt more like three years. My brain is exhausted, as if it’s permanently stuck in the final leg of a triathlon that won’t end, and has been shaken by events, uncertainty, fear, hope and growth. As we arrive at mid-June, COVID-19 news coverage has been sharing space with continuing Black Lives Matter protests and conversations that are starting to create a groundswell of changes and self-examination in our country. We’ve pressed the reboot button in terms of understanding how COVID-19 is going to spread this
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