Treating PTSD: Be Your Own Hero
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 • Uncategorized •
We’re getting near the end of this month’s focus of changing our perceptions, which brings us down to the really critical apsect of how we see ourselves. How do you see yourself? Are you the hero, or civilian in distress?
Building on Monday’s post, I want to explore a little more about this topic. Or, to put it more precisely: how we should see ourselves.
No one achieves anything by imagining negative images. All successful people – from athletes to buinesspeople – achieve goals by imagining those goals as already in existence. Athletes see the ball doing what they want; businesspeople imagine the company or product functioning they way they want.
What do you do? Are you walking around imagining yourself as an all-powerful agent of PTSD healing? I thought not. That needs to change!
In order to heal we need to imagine ourselves as strong, powerful, heroic beings. Sure, not easy to do, I know. In PTSD it’s just oh-so-tempting to feel squashed by symptoms, the past, the present and our lives in general. Accepting that squashed feeling is a luxury we can’t afford.
We heal more quickly when we think of ourselves as we want to be. And also, when we see ourselves as who we truly are: We are HEROES. Each and every one of us has survived a major traumatic event. While in PTSD we may feel small and weak and powerless that’s only the funhouse mirror distortion that PTSD gives us. It is not a true reflection of who we are and it certainly doesn’t reflect who we can be.
Unfortunately, it isn’t enough just to be aware of our misperceptions — what they are and how they may not be serving us. We have to go one step further to create those perceptions that give us power, strength, hope and the ability to achieve healing.
When we look in the mirror, when we close our eyes and see ourselves, when we think of who we are, we cannot accept an image of ourselves as weak and crumbling. We must create an image of ourselves as the heroes we are, and the heroes we need to be in order to kick this PTSD habit.
We must think of ourselves as heroic. That’s where our own strength can be built and from which it can constantly flow.
To ‘survive’ means “To live beyond the life or existence of; to live longer than”; that’s the quality of a superhero. Get used to it.
Remind yourself every day, I am a hero! . Think of yourself this way. That’s who you really are. PTSD is only an aberration of your true self.
BRIDGE THE GAP EXERCISE
Who do you know who is heroic?
Imagine someone you really admire. It can be someone you know personally (i.e. a family member, a friend, a colleague) or someone you know of (i.e. a celebrity, an artist, a writer, a public figure, a character from a book or movie). Choose someone who has qualities that seem big and strong and powerful.
Now, close your eyes. Allow an image of this person to appear in your mind. What is it about him or her that you admire? How do heroic traits manifest? Notice how this person walks, talks, stands, sits, dresses, sounds, behaves. Run through a series of images of this person until you feel you have called up in yourself all of the reasons you admire him or her.
When that feeling of admiration is strong, choose one of the images of this person and make it larger in your mind. Make it big so you can really see the details of who this person is. Study it. Feel it. What is it like to be this person? Get so specific you can feel him or her breathe.
And then, step into the image and see the world through his or her eyes. Feel how it feels to be in this strong and powerful body. Hear the sounds of the world through this person’s mind.
Spend the rest of the day seeing the world through their eyes. Choose one or two or three traits of this person and emulate them today. Walk, talk, dress the way he or she does. Tap into his or her power and use a little for yourself today.
(Photo: Pink FingerPrint)
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