3 Steps to Escape from Trauma

In our previous article, entitled, How to Escape from Trauma, we explained that we can escape from trauma because the cause of the trauma was never the event, or the situation, or the circumstance, rather, our own thought. We added that since the cause of trauma is the thought, the solution is at the level of our thought, and it consists of giving up our attack thoughts related to the event, situation, or circumstance.

In this article, we are going to learn the steps to do that.

Step 1: identify the cause, or rather, identifying all of our attack thoughts [1]. We do this through the use of an Attack Thought Log. An Attack Thought Log consists of a list of attack thoughts in every single aspect and area of our life. The effectiveness of this step depends on how well it is done. Let us follow the following sub-steps.

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1. Brainstorm on as many attack thoughts as possible that you may have.
2. Write them down using the process of free association. Do so uncensured, without consciously thinking, without judging, criticizing, and without letting any unwelcome feelings deter you.
3. Experience the feelings, but keep going. This may be an is done along with a therapist or coach.
4. Without reviewing the sub-steps above, repeat them, but this time, focus only on attack thoughts you have towards or about yourself
5. Repeat sub-steps 1-3, separately for each of the following individuals: 1. Your current spouse or romantic partner (if applicable); 2. Your mother (whether dead or alive); 3. Your father (whether dead or alive); 4. Any authority figure who served as a caregiver to you, growing up (whether dead or alive); 5. Any authority other than your caregiver, figure who had a major influence on you growing up (dead or alive); 6. Each one of your siblings (if applicable, and whether dead or alive); 7. Each and every one of your children (if applicable, and whether dead or alive); 8. Your current boss and any past boss of yours; 9. Friends (past or present); 10. Co-workers (past or present).
6. Repeat these sub-steps for each of the following categories: 1. Your neighbors; 2. People in general; 3. Strangers in particular; 3. The world; 4. Life [2]
7. Repeat these sub-steps for any category that has not been captured.

If done well, this first step will be one of the most revealing exercises, and is guaranteed to raise our level of consciousness.  It may also be cathartic and therapeutic. Let us briefly mention the next two steps.

Step 2: Letting go of our attack thoughts. Identifying them alone will help start the process of letting go. But letting go [3] requires the mastery of some key components and we will be addressing them during our Full-Day webinar on Trauma

Step 3: Replace them: Once we identify our attack thoughts, then let go of them, we ought to replace them. This third step takes place when the first two steps are done well. This means, we have to spend as much time as possible in doing Step 1 and doing it well.

Are you a clinician who would like to master these skills and gift them to your patients so they too can escape from trauma and cease suffering? If so, please join us on Friday, April 9^th for our 6 CEU full-day webinar on trauma. Click here to register and…

See you then,
Karen and Mardoche

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[1] DiPirro, Dani. “Thought Attacks: What They Are + How to Defend Yourself.” Positively Present, www.positivelypresent.com/2013/09/thought-attacks.html#:~:text=If%20you’ve%20ever%20faced,before%20it%20had%20even%20happened!&text=As%20real%20as%20our%20thoughts,don’t%20know%20for%20sure.

[2] Dewhirst, Natasha. “The 7 Categories of Life and How to Succeed in Each.” 29 Apr. 2020, natashacarltondewhirst.com/2020/02/14/the-7-categories-of-life-and-how-to-succeed-in-each/.

[3] Fulmore, Adam. “4 Steps to Let Go of Stress, Negativity, and Emotional Pain.” Tiny Buddha, 22 July 2016, tinybuddha.com/blog/steps-let-go-stress-negativity-emotional-pain/.