Spirituality And Ptsd

[Tinyflame]

Not silly, EFB's are Emotional Flashbacks. Philippa had a great link about them.
Basically they come down to a trigger that is not even recognized (a look, word, tone, etc), that sends one escalating (or spiralling) into previous feelings - self-blame, self-rejection etc, from childhood. Then one feels all those things, and gets (more) negative feedback from an Internal Critic. And because the person doesn't know it's an EFB, feels it's further evidence for exactly how they are feeling and 'proof' of their worthlessness, etc.
(I hope I am explaining that right!)

I think you're right about a 'common language'.

I have always related to Helen Keller's descriptions- feel like I cannot find the words.

 

[Hashi]

Religion is a crock.

LLB, I feel very uncomfortable with the way you've expressed this. I'm not sure how it fits with the forum rule that "All members are allowed their opinion, neither right nor wrong, and a person's opinion must be respected." I suppose because it doesn't follow a positive post about religion it doesn't contravene the rule. At the same time, I have to say that to me if feels too dismissive of other views.

I also think it's missing something essentially good. I don't follow any particular religion, but I see a great deal of good in them. They can be misused, but so can any belief. To me, religions are a way of giving a form to spiritual beliefs that otherwise could be too complex and remote. I wrote before but took it out, that for me personally a god or goddess is a way of representing an aspect of greater power in a way that I can understand and reach out to. I pray for compassion to the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, Quan Yin. I'm not a Buddhist, but for me Quan Yin is a beautiful representation of unlimited compassion that I can see and connect to.

Religions also help us to see something bigger and greater than our everyday lives, while giving us a way to bring that back to how we live each day. They provide us with values to aspire to - sincerity, gentleness, kindness and so on. I'm trying to work with values as part of my therapy at the moment, and what's helping me is to think about a person I know who belongs to a religion and tries to live its values (which she does, and it shines out of her). I'm sure there are non-religious people who pay attention to values too, I'm just saying that I see this in people who follow a religion.

As Chondra says, religions also provide community - and the "shared language" that's being discussed here.

I think religion's approached differently by different people. I see it as symbolic, some people might see it as literal, some people might not relate to it at all. Although they may not be for me, I don't see anything wrong in religions in themselves or in following a given structure for spiritual belief. I know that particular states, organisations or individuals can misuse them but I've never heard of a religion (ie the belief system rather than the people administering it) that wasn't aimed at fostering and supporting our connection to a higher power.

 

[robi]

I guess that I am somewhat of a spiritual straddler too. After my trauma I did not even want to hear the word "God" spoken. I was so angry at God for letting the event happen. I guess that is healthy as I felt like I had enough of a relationship with God, to be very, very angry with him (as I came to realize). The trauma changed my relationship with organized religion. I quit going to church. My healing began when I was lead into reconcilation with my spirituality. A person came into my life and showed me differing aspects for spirituality, such as native american, goddess, Kabbalah, and so on. I now am spiritual with an eclectic approach. However I find that I miss the sense of community and fellowship that occurs within religion, as well as singing hymns.

I am ever so grateful to this person for helping me on my life journey to begin the steps toward healing. She also recommended a fantastic book 'Mutant Message Down Under' that really opened the doors and the potential to seek out spirituality and foster a relationship with my higher power that is based on love and acceptance for myself, as well as others. My spirituality is important to me today, and I can definitely state that it began my journey towards healing, instead of self destructing.:)

 

[Whitneys story]

Chondra, Something suggested I stop by! Have not seen you for awhile. Hope you are doing well! Hugs Whitney

 

[Privateer]

At the moment I'm feeling a bit lost, spiritually. This is largely because my mind is so jumbled and frantic that I feel unable to connect properly with things and feel cut off, not just from people around me, but even from the Otherworld and the Gods.

It's a very, very unpleasant feeling.

 

[Hashi]

...I feel unable to connect properly with things and feel cut off, not just from people around me, but even from the Otherworld and the Gods.

It's a very, very unpleasant feeling.

It's a really unpleasant feeling. I've been struggling for a while to connect with what I believe, and recently it's been intensely difficult. This has got better for me now. I hope it does for you.

 

[Privateer]

I really hope so. I just...I don't know. I don't know what to do. I'm frightened that maybe I've done something so terrible that I've been cut off as a punishment. I know that's normally how these things work, but...

 

[Tinyflame]

Actually, I don't think that's how it works supposedly Privateer, but I understand the feeling and the end result is the same, cut off is cut-off, so it seems (or feels).

 

[Privateer]

I just...ugh. I'm so frightened that I might never get it back, you know?

 

[Tinyflame]

I hope you can. (((((Hugs))))).

 

[Privateer]

Thankyou. Sorry about that.

 

[Tinyflame]

Sorry about what, Privateer?