Ouch My Trauma Hurts (OMTH) Can we Control Our Trauma To Serve (COTTS) our country? One trauma symptom is AVOIDANCE. We may stop watching the news on television and social media because it makes us anxious. It’s hard to sleep. Getting help from a trauma-informed therapist would be great! What if you listened to a

Ouch My Trauma Hurts (OMTH) When we feel moral injury, choosing our actions pulls us toward hope. If moral injury invades our souls, then treating our selves to patriotic action offers us the gifts of comfort, hope, and faith in ourselves. If moral injury chokes us, unchoking ourselves and others is acting our values toward

Ouch My Trauma Hurts (OMTH) Moral injury is a wound to the heart and soul. It can come from our not being able to prevent or even stop inhumane acts—the pain, suffering, and death of others. These witnessed horrors are described by many observers watching current arrests and deportations. Not the same as trauma, moral

Ouch My Trauma Hurts (OMTH) What are your special talents? Posting, writing, taking pictures, joining action organizations, helping others? Any way you could turn your skills into helping your country, as you would a struggling friend- that would be generous, caring. And caring has new meaning these days when so many are struggling. We live

Ouch My Trauma Hurts (OMTH) In an authoritative government, terror and losses rain down upon those who become traumatized. ‘The best tools for survival are recognizing and recovering over and over again, as a process rather than a one-time accomplishment.’ Keep hoping and taking action with others. Give yourself grace. You are doing your best

“Despair is the complete loss of hope that is stripped away with no thought or feeling of possibilities—a state of mind where no expectation of positive outcomes exists. Thoughts crowd our minds like, ‘Things will not get better.’ Desperate thinking envelopes the mind. Panic is the driver where no positive possibilities seem to exist.” This

“Anguish is severe pain where hopelessness captures the mind, heart, and soul. This complex emtotional state involves extreme unhappiness and suffering. First comes a sad, fearsome, traumatic event. The pain of anguish is so immense as to hinder clear thinking and problem solving. It can sap our energy and lower motivation.” And we can witness

Ouch My Trauma Hurts (OMTH)  Trauma trigger alert- violence described below.  When I first met Colonel Don (in above picture), he made a request: “Please don’t come up behind me and put your hand on my shoulder, because I have trauma from the war and might slap my arm back and hit you without meaning

Ouch My Trauma Hurts Messages from my heart to yours… Suggestions and hopes from a trauma expert- for you! Traumatic intrusive thoughts involve ideas rushing into our minds when we may be trying to think about other things. It’s hard to concentrate and focus. Driving and climbing steps are important to focus on so we