WHO FIRED THAT SHOT?

 In my never ending quest to figure out who I am and why I act and react as I do, I am currently reading THIS book

Be forewarned--it is NOT light reading.  In fact it is a great deal like a text book.  DEEP!  I have spent weeks slowly reading it.  It is worth the effort, I am learning a great deal about the effects of trauma on us.

I would dare say most of us have experienced some form of trauma in our lives.  This book is an in depth discussion about the effect trauma has on our brain, mind and body.

There are triggers which when pushed can cause us to relive some part of our trauma.

It could be a sight, a sound, a smell, a touch or almost any physical stimuli which reminds our brains of a trauma we suffered in the past.  Without thinking we are jerked back to the trauma and find ourselves reacting as the danger bells begin ringing in our sub-conscious.  You might find yourself more affected by one sense than the others.  For me it is the power of words which often cause me to remember events I would prefer to keep buried.  For all my laughing about my loss of my memory, those powerful traumatic events are not forgotten.  Perhaps on the surface we are able to stuff them down into a hole, but the body is always ready to create a reaction when someone pulls the trigger or pushes the button to release the flood of memories.  

Who would pull that trigger or push that button?  Most of the time, it is quite inadvertent.  My startle reflex is set off when I am not aware of someone coming up behind or beside me.  It is amazing how high I can still jump without even intending. And then there is the innocent conversation where some memory from the past is lightly brushed and you are off again on the rabbit trail.  Frankly I find myself at times reliving a past event and cannot figure out what set me off.  From my reading, something I saw, heard, smelled, tasted, felt reached way back in the recesses of my brain without my even being aware the trigger had been pulled or the button pushed.  

The World of Movies would have you believe you always hear the gun being cocked ~ the trigger being pulled back.  That is not necessarily so.  Sometimes we are blindsided without ever being aware someone or thing is about to push the trauma alert button.  Trauma is a powerful force with life changing consequence.  I am learning we can learn to deal with our traumas.  The brain is powerful and we can learn to live with the consequences of our traumas.  The starting point is educating yourself on how the brain works.  The next step is taking steps to heal yourself.  God is our great Physician and Healer.  He is where our journey to living a full, abundant and joyful life begin.  The best medicine is always a large dose of time spent seeking Him.

"Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,

and He delivered them from their distress.

He sent out His Word and healed them,

and delivered them from their destruction."

Psalm  107: 19-20

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