Trauma is characterized by fear, and by terror. And the way out of fear is by giving up our attack thoughts. Other than that, nothing else will work. If this sounds absolute, it is because it is. For our response to trauma is thought. Our reexperiencing of trauma is also thought. And whatever we may try to do to escape from our trauma is always thought-based. Yet, we are using the actual cause of the problem to solve the problem, without addressing the actual cause. In other words, the cause of anything that takes place in trauma is “thought,” the solution to anything related to, or that takes place in trauma must be thought and thought alone. Everything else is meaningless. And whoever has any doubt on this can go ahead and continue to do whatever they’ve been doing for the past 10 years and see if there will ever be any result different from what they have gotten so far. It will not be any different until the real problem is addressed. And the real problem is in our thought [1]. Everything else is meaningless, regardless of how much meaning we’ve been assigning.
The Reality is that every thought we generate makes up some segment of everything we perceive in ourselves, others, our surroundings, our life, and in the world [2]. Can you see how we cannot pretend to escape from trauma if we don’t give up our attack thoughts? It matters little how much people around us rearrange things to make us more comfortable and accommodated. It matters little how many techniques we have to deal with our intrusive thoughts, our nightmares, our flashbacks, or with our hypervigilance. It does not matter how good these techniques are. They only work short term, and partially, and we know that [3]. We have experienced that with our patients. Short-term relief to their symptoms of trauma. This is so because everything on the outside is merely the effect of our thoughts. This is so because everything we experience in our life is the result of our thoughts. Now, if this piece of insight makes anyone of us lament, we ought to understand that this again would be our thought in the making.
When we pay attention to what’s going on around us, to our surroundings, our triggers, our circumstances or our situation, we are also paying attention to ourselves; the maker of all these images we are see in the world. It is all Projection. Things do not come from the outside-in, rather, they go from the inside-out. Things originate in our thoughts, and while we may have spent all our life believing the contrary, it is now time for us to make the shift. If we are truly want to escape from “trauma,” we do this by giving up our attack thoughts. End of story.
When we are ready to give up our attack thoughts, we first do so by putting an end to judging or criticizing ourselves, others, situations, or the world. We give up our attack thoughts by putting an end to hating or condemning ourselves, others, situations, or the world. We give up our attack thoughts by putting an end to resenting ourselves, others, circumstances, or the world.
We are not trapped in our “trauma.” The cause of our “trauma” was never in any event, situation, or circumstance, to start with. The cause has always been our own thought before the event, during the event and after the event. And the cause can be changed, and we can learn how to do this.
If you are a clinician would like to learn how to best help your patients escape from trauma, then join us on Friday, April 9th, for our 6 CEU full-day webinar on Trauma. Click here to register, and
We will see you then,
Karen and Mardoche
[1] Eva Keiffenheim, MSc. “To Transform Your Life, Start Changing Your Thoughts.” Medium, Change Your Mind Change Your Life, 24 May 2020, medium.com/change-your-mind/to-transform-your-life-start-changing-your-thoughts-fc0efc423b69.
[2] Morin, Amy. “This Is How Your Thoughts Become Your Reality.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 15 June 2016, www.forbes.com/sites/amymorin/2016/06/15/this-is-how-your-thoughts-become-your-reality/?sh=420c561528a0.
[3]Foa, Edna B et al. “Challenges and Successes in Dissemination of Evidence-Based Treatments for Posttraumatic Stress: Lessons Learned From Prolonged Exposure Therapy for PTSD.” Psychological science in the public interest : a journal of the American Psychological Society vol. 14,2 (2013): 65-111. doi:10.1177/1529100612468841