Book 121 - A Year of Magical Learning
- cmsears8384
- Mar 4, 2022
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 11, 2022
Reflection Title: Trauma is an Imagination Thief…Reclaim Your Superpower!
Book – The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and the Body in the healing of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk
Book Description: Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments—from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga—that offer new paths to recovery by activating the brain’s natural neuroplasticity. Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal—and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.
Reflection:
Quick recap of some profound learnings I’ve come across so far on this Year of Magical Learning journey as it pertains to humans and imagination…
From Sapiens – our imagination is our superpower as humans.
From Infinite Possibilities – thoughts become things. If we can dream it, we can bring it into reality in this world.
From Moonwalking with Einstein – if you want to create new memories that stick, use your imagination. The world’s best memory athletes are essentially the ones that are the most creative and imaginative.
From Why We Sleep – Have you ever heard of the term, sleep on it, in relation to creating new memories and remembering something you were struggling to learn? This happens because when we enter REM sleep, our mind goes into imagination overload. That is when new memories are cemented fast, and we seemingly wake up remembering what we couldn’t before when we went to sleep.
So, what the hell does imagination have to do with Trauma and this book called the The Body Keeps the Score?
My theory is that trauma is essentially the death of your imagination.
I’ve personally lived through a lot of serious traumatic events over the past few years. From my daughter being born at 22 weeks old and weighing only 1 lb. and 1 ounce but surviving. To living in a real life or death situation every single day in the NICU as Emilia fought for a chance at life in this world for 39 days. To having to make the call to end my daughter’s battle and watch her take her last breaths in my wife’s arms. To dealing with all the fallout that comes from losing a child. To finding myself back in the NICU only 11 months later as our son was born at 28 weeks old and we spent the next 92 days in the hospital before getting him home safe.
After we lost Emilia, the best way I can describe my mind in the weeks and months that followed was singularly focused. The only thing I thought about was Emilia. Seemingly every moment of every day was filled with memories of her and what we went through together in the NICU. I would dream of her last few days and hours in my sleep and wake up in a cold sweat and thinking she was still with us, and that I was still in the NICU by her side.
My mind was stuck on the day she passed away, April 22, 2020. That is where I lived.
It didn’t matter what I was doing, who I was around, what environment I was in, etc…I was still living next to my daughter and her final few days in my mind. That is all I thought about. That is all I questioned in my mind. That is all I cared about. I was on a different planet than the rest of this world.
That is what trauma does to you!!! You live in the past and stop creating new memories.
To me, if we aren’t generating new memories, then that means we must have stopped using our imagination.
So, how do you find your way back to this world after experiencing trauma? Well, if trauma wants to take our superpower of our imagination…take it back!
Fill your head with new ideas and learn from others, ask questions, be curious, share your thoughts with others, and start dreaming up new dreams again. Slowly, but surely, you will find yourself living a life filled with wonder, mystery, joy, new memories, and purpose again.
Trauma won’t know what hit it.
That is why this year of magical learning journey is so important for me. This is my way of reclaiming the superpower that is my imagination, creating new memories, and leaving trauma in the past where it belongs.
Question: Have you lost your superpower of imagination to trauma? How can you take it back and reclaim your mind?
Links:
What is The Year of Magical Learning? An Introduction
YOML Podcast Discussion - Coming Soon
Comments