Trauma and Thoughts

Yesterday was about perception and thoughts.  Today is about the impact of trauma toward our thoughts. My mental healthy moment for today surrounds how trauma affects our thoughts, our minds and different aspects of our lives ranging from maintaining and establishing relationships; being a student in school; being a good employee on a job; being a husband or wife; boyfriend/girlfriend or even a loyal friend.  Traumatic events big or small can affect how we think about the world around us.  Sometimes our perceptions are skewed by these events.  So skewed that we either become hypervigilant about certain situations or we can't recognize when a life altering situation faces us in our face. Think about why you can't trust that friend or that significant other. Who traumatized you and kept you trapped in your inability to trust?  What about when you push people away because you don't know how to accept when others care for you?  Who left you when you needed them the most? Why are you afraid to get close?  Who never showed up after so many promises that they will come? Or better yet, who promised to be with you for the ride, good or bad, but left when it got tough?  Your bags are still full and instead of you trying to empty them, you continue to clutter them with more baggage from the way you've handled things.  Who really created these feelings? Who or what are you giving credit too as the author of your thoughts? You're right I don't know your story, but I know your patterns. You walk around like life owes you when you owe yourself.  Just because things started out bad doesn't mean it has to end bad.  So I ask, who are you chasing?  Who are you trying to find? Who are you waiting for? What void are you trying to fill? Maybe your dad didn't come to see you because he was incarcerated and he didn't want you to know.  Maybe your mother battled a drug addiction because she was raped and learning to deal with the situation, drugs became her sanity.  Maybe the one you thought you could give your heart too had their own set of issues that they couldn't deal with so they took them out on you. Look how it damaged your self worth. Telling you all the bad things about how you look, pointing out all your faults, never saying anything nice, telling you no one else will want you. Maybe he/she wasn't the man/woman for you. Or maybe just maybe you still perceive a situation from the vision of a child and haven't matured enough to understand that what you thought as a child wasn't really what it appeared to be.  Recognize how it has made you into the person you said you didn't want to be. Look for the road signs to forgiveness.  Learn the meaning of the word forgiveness. Yes forgiveness, such a strong word sometimes unreachable at times.  Forgiving doesn't necessarily mean you have to forget.  Forgiving releases the hold that the situation has over your life allowing you to move toward a better future....forgive.  But most importantly, learn to forgive yourself. We all make mistakes.  Well that's it for me today.....I can go on and on....My mental healthy moments....yes healthy...are none stop because I want to challenge you to think healthier so you can live healthier....Take care.