mind

Although trauma is becoming more talked about in everyday circles, sometimes it is still thought of as something that only “really unfortunate” people experience. You know, those people. But the truth is we’ve all experienced it in varying degrees.

I love how Gabor Mate approaches trauma: it’s not the event, he explains, it’s how we responded to the event that makes something traumatic. In some ways it may be overly simplistic, but it follows my own experience and what I see play out with my clients time and time again.

Seeking from our mind is often an endless ride on a hamster wheel. Seeking from our being is part of our inheritance as a living being.

Each living thing has something within it that drives it to grow, to evolve- to go from what was, into newness. This movement to “life” is inherent within existence itself. In plants and animals we simply call it maturing, or growing. In human beings we can connect with it as aspect of “a me” wanting to know a greater sense of Me-ness. We may call it seeking: a seeking of life wanting to know itself in/as Life.

During the nineteenth century, phantasmagoria – or theatrical horror shows – became a popular attraction throughout Britain, Europe and the United States. The creators used lighting, projectors, smoke, sound effects and electric shocks to conjure all manner of apparitions and frighten audiences. Sequences of terrifying images played on screens and theatres were often decorated accordingly. There were even rumours of patrons being drugged.