Last week, I listened to a podcast with a conversation between Charles Eisenstein Thomas Hübl, who is an expert on trauma. There is so much that I learned. He defines trauma as the response of our nervous system to an overwhelming situation, not the event itself. He considers it an intelligent function that has allowed us to evolve.
One effect of trauma is that people have difficulty relating to self and others. I am looking and working with how much we are separated and this information added another layer to it.
We are told that we are separate from nature. The definition of nature says basically that nature is anything that it not human. Interesting in light of our bodies being of material that comes from the earth. So how can we be separate?
We believe that no one can know what I am thinking except myself. That is not true either. - And am I even aware of what I am thinking? Thoughts have energy and so it can be perceived by others if they are willing to not only be present but also aware. It's sort of like plucking the string of a guitar and that same string on one nearby will start to vibrate. Now, after listening to the podcast, I am beginning to wonder if this desire to have a space that is not connected to anyone else is a trauma response? Physically, this is possible, yet not emotionally or mentally.
As a result of being with that conversation, I had to think of my parents who were teens during World War II. They were social, had friends, went to events, all the 'normal' stuff. Yet I felt that they did not know how to connect to another person. And my mother did not have much of a connection to her body. Were both a response to the trauma of the war?
Besides the individual trauma, there is also a collective trauma. Looking at history, most of us are born into the energetic field of such traumas due to war, genocide, or natural disasters. According to Hübl, trauma responses get passed on to future generations without those having themselves experienced trauma. Since this passing on can go for generations. all of us could have trauma responses.
Trauma can be healed through personal work. It requires us to become aware of it, to recognize the symptoms. Currently, I am looking at my life to see if there was / is behavior that could be a symptom since one aspect is the kind of relationship we have with ourselves and others. So I will be looking if the relationship with myself has changed, as well as relationship with others. I am fascinated to go on that journey of discovery and am curious what I will find. Being able to be present with myself will definitely be required. And it will take time.