Trauma & Art

Two metaphors from recent readings and a painting

Internalizing green zone experiences builds up a core of inner strengths. In a positive cycle, this fosters more experiences of the Responsive mode and therefore more opportunities to grow inner resources. Then you can handle larger and larger challenges, staying green inside even when the world is flashing red, with a bone-deep resilient well-being that nothing can penetrate and overwhelm. When faced with a challenge, be mindful of which particular need— for safety, satisfaction, or connection— is at stake. Deliberately call upon your inner strengths related to meeting these specific needs…… Then, as you experience mental resources, you can reinforce them in your nervous system. I’ve sailed some, and I’ve managed to capsize a boat that didn’t have a keel. If the mind is like a sailboat, growing inner resources is like strengthening and lengthening its keel. Then you can live more boldly, trusting that you can explore and enjoy the deeper waters of life, and handle any storms that come your way (From Resilient by Rick Hanson, 2018)

There is an old saying that consciousness is like a container of water. If you take a tablespoon of salt and place it in a small container, say, the size of an espresso cup, the water most certainly will be too salty to drink. But if your container is much larger— say it is capable of holding many, many gallons of water—water— that same tablespoon of salt, now placed into this vast amount of liquid, will taste fresh. Same water, same salt; simply a different ratio, and the experience of drinking is totally different. Consciousness is like that. When we learn to cultivate our capacity for being aware, the quality of our life and the strength of our mind are enhanced (From Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence by Dan J. Siegel, 2018)