“And That’s A Brilliant Glimpse of Insight!” ™
All I remember was being pushed into the deep end of the Olympic size swimming pool. At ten, I had yet to become a good swimmer. At ten I suffered my first traumatic event. At ten, I learned how to pause.
The person who pushed me in and stood watching as I slowly sank, drowning, was a trusted camp counselor, who the kids called “Nut.”
When my sister jumped in and rescued me and I sat coughing up water on the side of the pool, I remember hearing “Nut” say, “she would have been okay. She just needed the trauma to help her learn!”
Yes, “Nut” was fired. And me, I begged my parents to stay at camp that final week.
I also learned something else. I learned to find my inner resolve. I learned about trauma and survival. My inner exploration that night sleeping under the stars taught me that there is so much more than just life’s day to day survival.
I have learned that we must pause. Even at a young age while I was learning about life, exploring, and enjoying the gifts of friendships and new experiences… I learned that none of us get out unscathed by life’s traumas.
I learned at summer camp to be fully present in my moment after that traumatic event. Over the years I have set out to learn more about behavior, trauma, and peace. I have been a seeker of life’s wisdom traditions in all their many forms.
I have learned that life knocks us down and it picks us up. I have learned that in my down times if I look for the beauty in all things, I can survive the trauma.
We must learn to pause and become fully present to appreciate the life right in front of us.
Today, there is so much noise inside and outside of our lives. We are living life’s trauma and its drama every day. The chaos we see around us quite honestly, is the result of people’s trauma, and that has sucked us all in.
Right now, we are all searching for information that will make that noise stop.
I am all for hitting the pause button. I am all in for putting my phone down, turning off the television and going within, to pause and reflect.
I do know this one thing for sure… “Nut” was right. Trauma can be a great teacher. It can teach us to slow down, to pause, to reflect. It can teach us to take stock of what we have, appreciate the beauty and the value of our lives, even if they are not perfect. Trauma can teach us how to be better to ourselves and to each other.
Today we hear the words all the time, ‘trauma-informed’ which basically means to use what we have learned to inform how we care, treat, or our approach to those things that hurt or wound us.
And we can today take a trauma-informed collective step back and breathe…together. We should commit to taking one day to turn off the noise, to silence the hate, to let go of the rhetoric.
Today, can we commit one day simply to pause. I can. What about you?
“And That’s A Brilliant Glimpse of Insight!” ™
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