Trauma and Literacy

As First Nations in Canada I am hard pressed to find a First Nation person who has not experienced someone degree of trauma in family or community. Trauma is relative to the person who has experience it; so what might be traumatic to one person, it may not affect another to the same degree.

Although we don’t live in the past, we live with the past
–Rabbi Mark Miller

Wikipedia: A traumatic event involves a single experience, or an enduring or repeating event or events that completely overwhelm the individual's ability to cope or integrate the ideas and emotions involved with that experience. The sense of being overwhelmed can be delayed by weeks, years or even decades, as the person struggles to cope with the immediate circumstances.

The best thing to overcome our past events is a balance of strong cultural identity and the use of traditions and seeing a professional helper of your choice; you can change and free yourself to the binding trauma event that may hold you back. First step is to reach out to someone you trust: family, relatives, community, Family Doctor, or community organizations.

Take small successful steps in recovery; and every step is a step toward recovery, as you notice the fog of trauma lifting your able to move beyond the cognitive deficits such as poor problem solving, (unable to think things out or make sense of what is happening), low self-esteem (how one thinks of oneself – victim-thinking) and hopelessness (loss of future orientation) have all been clearly linked to negative (traumatic) life events (Stein & Kendell, 2004; LeDoux, 2002; Schore, 2001; Teicher, 2000.

In seeking happiness for others, you find it for yourself Anonymous

Once the fog of trauma has lifted and you notice your environment beyond the thickness of your skin you can see the beauty of nature, you begin to appreciate a smile, the smell of the air, the sun on your face.

We know when we are happy; we are able to have high degree of retention of new events. Next steps are to take in new information or new experiences that give you joy and make you happy; in those moments read, pick up a book that feeds your new level of happiness and joy, take that joy to others by reading to them a passage that has meaning to your recovery.

Keep reading; keep healing my friends, and know you can overcome your past not by holding on; but by fond reflection of its teachings.

The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes, but in liking what one does
James M. Barrie