Spirituality And Ptsd

[Privateer]

Posting. I always feel terrible about telling people when I'm having problems.

I was always supposed to be the strong one, the role model, y'know? Feel guilty bothering others with my stuff.

 

[Shellbell]

I believe in one God, but I don't the term religion. I'm not 'religious' as that becomes very legalist and I don't believe in just turning up at Church every Sunday and not even really thinking about it the rest of the week.

I don't go to Church at the moment. It's too hard, I hear things that are too triggering.

I have a relationship with God. It's a difficult one, but it's there and I see how myself and my family are being taken care of. And I am thankful of that.

 

[Tinyflame]

Privateer, no problem. I understand. Hugs, still, if you accept them.

I guess I don't have the faith I thought I had, for me it was all pipe dreams.

 

[Tinyflame]

God never cared about me or my family, I'd say He left but I don't think He was there to begin with. I hate Him for having created me, as well. So I guess I'll get 'paid back', for that as well. There is no relationship though, it was all in my head. For me personally, I was dumb.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

When I'm on a path of self discovery, I am able to tap into my spirituality. When I listen to others I become lost and disoriented. This week my therapist told me something that pretty much blew my mind and I've shut down again. I've learned that I need to stop listening to others and start relying on my own intelligence and intuition. It never leads me astray.

 

[heidi]

Definitely not more spiritual since ptsd. Anyone ever study Buddhism? I find that useful in terms of it's examinations into things like.. I don't know.. the self, the perceptions of self, even things like shame and oh I don't know. I think the christian condemnation of many things and a lot of the other stuff just really..maybe not as helpful and supportive in a time like this.

I think there are ways to be what we call spiritual that are not just christian. In fact I think when we say spirituality it's too compartmentalized. I think it's just a part of being human. It's just about making all parts of you shine.

I think even just self-examining and being aware and striving to be a better person fit into that category and by that definition many people here are spiritual.

 

[Tinyflame]

Yes, it reminds me of a Toyota ad that used to say "built for the human race". My mom used to say, "what other race would it be built for??" :confused:

 

[Deleted member 1860]

I pulled out my "Buddhism for Dummies" book last night. I've tried to read a few others, but they have been less than helpful. Ok, I'll get the terms wrong, but one said something like this...."it was in your abuser's Karma to abuse you, so you can't hold them responsible for it" Say what? Yes, I realized right then and there that the book was horribly skewed and threw it in the donate pile. (Really, it should've gone in the burn pile!) On that token, I can go rape 4 year old little girls and be morally innocent because it was in my Karma to do so!

It's HARD to find spiritual books that aren't skewed in one way or another. I find the dummies books to be pretty objective all around, and so far so good.

I like that Buddhism has no God. Yay, no God to hate me. (Yes, another day in church today crying through the whole service. I'm convinced that at some point lightening will strike me down.) I also like that Buddhism EXPECTS you to question anything and everything. Other religions, ahem, chastise you and cast you aside if you question things. Blah blah blah, its supposed to be about (blind) faith! Arg. Maddening, I tell ya.

 

[treble.maker]

I do believe in God, but my trauma definitely shattered some of the trust I have in Him.

For me, I have a hard time figuring out why a higher power would want to give people trauma. It seems like to say that there is a God, that would be saying that he would have let what happened to me happen; the only reason I can think of that He would want to do this is because I did something wrong, and it must be some sort of punishment.

I've actually never read a dummies book - and I don't remember much about Buddhism from middle school social studies. But maybe I should do some research like that; find some other religion's viewpoints on this.

 

[heidi]

I guess there are different schools of buddism. I favor zen buddhism myself. I don't know what kind of area you live in (urban or rural) but maybe instead of church you could try a buddhist group? There are generally lots of different kinds to choose from.

I really like the one I go to. I've really found it helpful as the subject can be deeply philosophical and there is something about thinking that feels really spiritually fulfilling if you want to call it that.

But really I think everything should be reality based. It's not a departure from reality but a different look at it. I mean I think a lot of people get the impression there is a lot of flightiness involved in I don't know American style Californian Buddhism I guess you could call it.

 

[Tinyflame]

I don't know what to think. Or what to think of God is like- or "why's" or "where for's". :( I only know it changes everything.

 

[heidi]

Well I mean the earth existed for billions of years before humans. We obviously are not the center of the universe. We are important to one another, we are important to ourselves, but to an entity outside of us.. no. The universe is indifferent toward humans.