Words

‘The last few years had been rough. Didn’t I deserve a break? Even though words like deserve really aren’t part of my psychological makeup, still I wonder if there was a little bit of reverse hubris. A feeling that now—now things would be easier……..’ (Dani Shapiro, Devotion, 2010)

Words and phrases take on different meanings and they serve different purposes in different contexts. They are imbued with emotions, attitudes and beliefs and can even carry subtle instructions. They are cues from our past. They become part of the available social discourse and they have the power to heal, emancipate, harm, manipulate and throw into doubt. They can  oppress, instigate change or not.

Over the last few years there are certain words and phrases that re-occur in some of the material I read or listen to. One such short phrase is ‘you don’t deserve anything’. The meaning changes depending on who is using the phrase and the context.

Read more…………

There but for fortune go you and I                              (Edited)

When it comes to understanding addiction, the dilemma of not seeing is deep. Our defences will not allow us to be aware of our own pain and the dysfunctions in which we seek escape from it. That failure of self-recognition sets up an invisible boundary between society and socially-ostracized addicts, and all too often between health care professionals and their clients’ (Gabor Mate)

Today’s post has come about as a result of what I have been doing over the last two weeks.  I have been working on this mother and child painting and going through notes on early attachment experiences, and also, reading Gabor Mate’s book, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts. While reading I realised I have not previously written on addiction even though it is highly connected to early attachment injury and neglect and the intergenerational transmission of trauma. Dr Mate discusses how compromised early bonding and attachment injuries impact our neurochemistry and areas of the brain, which can then make humans and other mammals susceptible to addictions. He adds that ‘there is no accusation, only the fundamental reality that suffering is multigenerational, that we pass it on unwittingly until we understand it and break the links in the chain of transmission within each family, community, society. Parent-blaming is emotionally unkind and scientifically incorrect. All parents do their best; only our best is limited by our own unresolved or unconscious trauma.’

This courageous, in my opinion, book, contains gut wrenching case studies that highlight diverse aspects of the broader addiction reality, diverse research and statistics, deep etiological commentary, information on epigenetics and the physiology of addiction, discussions on attachment failures and injuries that predispose people to more extreme self destructive coping strategies, and also, the invested interests, politics and economy of drugs. The conversation also focuses on spirituality, inequality, social injustice and unaddressed historical traumas. In particular, he refers to native populations and groups that have suffered extensively from oppression, unemployment, dislocation, dispossession and exploitation, as well as, the disruption of family life and the erosion of stable communities. He writes ‘inevitably, addictions are most prevalent and most deadly among populations who, historically, have suffered the most enduring trauma and dislocation’.    Read more…..

Continued….

Trauma, climate change and environmental crisis…

As mentioned in previous posts transmission of trauma occurs through multiple routes and trauma is woven into the fabric of our collective and our personal lives to one degree or another. The aftereffects of unmetabolized traumatizing events can determine outcomes, behaviours and health many decades after the occurrence of events both at a personal and collective level. But this reality is embedded within an even greater container: that of the wounds we humans have been inflicting on the planet that sustains us. We have in some sense become so alienated from ourselves and nature that we fail to grasp the simple truth that plundering and contaminating the living organism we are part of is self destructive and it endangers the lives of our children and all those to come after us. We also fail to realise that a sick eco system impacts the well being, health, longevity and sustainability of its parts. We are all part of this living organism and we all swim in the same toxic lake, and thus, we are all impacted to some extent or other. We also can no longer buy into the myth that we will never run out of resources. Even if we deny the reality of this threat, the fear of environmental catastrophes and extinction is bound to enter some level of our awareness as we watch the News and read about natural disasters and climate change. So, our current levels of collective trauma and eco destruction require we move beyond this collective human developmental stage and mature or simply become more human, and this requires self inquiry and efforts to integrate our personal baggage and shift thought paradigms and habits, but also the creation of social discourse and spaces to heal, integrate our experiences and awaken to reality, in community, as well as, action to stop further destruction, reverse if possible and replenish the Earth.

Notes from the Collective Trauma Online Summit

When society is disembodied it is then easy for people to become detached from their eco system

Climate trauma reflects the split between humans and nature and has become an ongoing, accelerating and ever present experience

No animal will foul its own nest, only humans destroy their home

Trauma is about broken connection to our deepest human essence, our bodies, to other people, reality and the planet

Two short relevant video clips by Dr Gabor Mate on trauma, our alienation from Nature and our own human nature….

Dr Gabor Maté ‘let it out’ 1st Clue about release of trauma at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=509SHGpYkak

Dr Gabor Maté ‘Which Nature Are We?,- 16th clue at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYYCIYcEn4I