Workshop: Navigating Trauma

Today, I’m presenting a workshop titled Navigating Trauma for A Woman’s Harvest. The research leading up to this has been triggering to say the least. And surprisingly unsettling.

In reviewing definitions, I read how the most jarring ones fit me exactly. Some were clear explanations of experience and exposure. But they missed the mark on duration. “This trauma would be experienced for hours, days, perhaps months.” Meanwhile, the list represents daily traumas that never abate for many people who have crossed my path and those who share their lives online. I also read how I appear to be such an example of resilience, my self-soothing practices may make my life seem somewhat rosy.

Trauma is simply explained as a wound. Physical, psychological, emotional, and/or spiritual. Generational, cultural, institutional – collective. Our response to the hurt depends on our relationship to elements of it and our association of it. Were we really close to the person on the other side of the wound? Was the location it happened in significant? Is the environment causing harm something we can adapt to or escape from?

Men’s reentry panel

Earlier this week, while listening to a panel of formerly incarcerated men explain their current low points despite being overall success stories for reentry into society, I was taken aback by how much of what each of the four multi-ethnic men shared was trauma. The thinking that led to their incarceration. And the thinking that has kept them out. The emotional and psychological wounds that bleed into life practice go deep.

We can’t escape our conditioning, but we can reformat our minds and lives. Reformatting requires drastic measures, and letting go of things that may have been impossible before.

Some direct, reflective questions that came out of the men’s panel were:
• Who have you hurt the most?
• Who have you been hurt by the most?
• Are you ready to let go of things that don’t help you?
• Are you ready for a relationship?
• Are you someone who can offer something to someone in a relationship?

Before the panel was over, I looked at my seat neighbor and said, “Everything is trauma.”

Everyone is hurting.

Everyone is trying to self-soothe.

A Woman’s Harvest is offering awareness, knowledge, and understanding the best we can.