Our conversations during our free monthly meet-ups take us in a variety of directions, and in order to ensure we circle back for reference, we’re going to start posting these resource blogs the day following a meet-up. The intent is to provide a roundup of resources or references from the conversation the night before. Last night, we were given so many gifts, as many familiar faces returned and some new ones took part in conversation as well. It's safe to assume, that everyone in that room left with a feeling of gratitude and compassion. Thank you.

Initial thoughts to circle back to: 

• Remember that healing is a journey, not a destination. There are many peaks and valleys on this ride, but celebrate every small step forward.

• Helping is healing. When you share your story, your vulnerability creates safety for someone else to share.

Themes: 

• Compassion: When we encounter something joyful in our lives, it's easy for us to instantly react with love and compassion. But pain doesn't instinctively translate into compassion (for most of us), but learning to transform our reactions to pain into compassion is incredibly healing. A lot can get in the way of compassion, especially for those who have suffered trauma. When we feel wronged or hurt in some way, it's difficult to actively let go of control and embrace a feeling we're not used to associating with pain. [Read more]

"Compassion is a feeling of empathy for ourselves and for others. It is the emotional response to suffering, and it motivates a desire to alleviate that suffering." — Kim Barthel from 'Conversations with a Rattlesnake'

• Forgiveness: Forgiveness is a feeling, not an action. Forgiveness can be difficult for many reasons: we haven't let go of our anger, we want to harm those who've harmed us, or simply the notion that forgiving will free our offenders from justice. When battling with being able to forgive, it's important to note that forgiving does not mean forgetting, nor does it mean justifying the actions of your offender. [Read more]

"Remember, real forgiveness does not make excuses for the other person’s hurtful behaviour. Forgiveness is a decision that you make with your whole self after you have done your emotional work." — Kim Barthel, from 'Conversations with a Rattlesnake' 

References: 

• Trauma loop:

Brain states are states of confusion. A Trauma Loop is a brain state that has created a pathway in the nervous system. We use it again and again and it gets stronger. An example is a rage response to stress. Trauma loops occur when reality is overwhelming. Too intense, too scary, too loud, too fast. The nervous system can’t organize and reverts to survival threat response behavior. [Colorado School of Somatic Studies]

• EMDR: EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, which is an integrative psychotherapy approach. This type of therapy uses a patient’s own rapid eye movements, to take emotionally charged memories out of traumatic events. Using eye movements and “tricking your brain”, therapists can essentially reprogram the memory of a traumatic event to more positive or neutral emotions. [Learn more about how it works]

Ideas and inspirations: 

• Writing: The practice of writing about trauma, or journaling, has been shown to have huge benefits both physically and mentally. In fact, a study from the University of Texas explored this notion, and found that participants who wrote about their traumatic experiences, visited counseling services less often, cut down on pain relievers, etc. [How to get started]

• Spirituality: When it comes to our healing journey, there's one aspect that oftentimes gets overlooked—spirituality. [Read more from 'Conversations with a Rattlesnake']

Religious and spiritual experiences activate the brain reward circuits in much the same way as love, sex, gambling, drugs and music, report researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine. In addition to the brain's reward circuits, the researchers found that spiritual feelings were associated with the medial prefrontal cortex, which is a complex brain region that is activated by tasks involving valuation, judgment and moral reasoning. Spiritual feelings also activated brain regions associated with focused attention. [Science Daily]

• Create a "ta-da" list: one of our friends at the meet-up last night, suggested in lieu of a 'to-do' list, to have a 'ta-da' list. Instead of getting bogged down in how much work we have to do, try making a list of all you've accomplished. For practice, we will start with this at the next meet-up in January!

• Star Trek: we had to throw this in because it made for amazing conversation! There has been unconventional practice on using episodes of Star Trek as therapy, in tackling different topics. Interestingly, this was the subject of a Psychology Today article that explains more.