FREE BOOK On Amazon Kindle

Hey, this goes out to everyone reading this.  For this week only (until Friday, September 21 at 11:59 PM PDT), my book is free.

Yep, no gimmicks and nothing special needed to get it. 

You can download thKindlele version on Amazon for free. 

After September 21, it will go back to regular price.

Title:  Hope And Possibility Through Trauma.

Available on Amazon.

Click Here

Such A Beautiful Video by Laura

When I saw this video that Laura did from a poem she read in my book, it brought tears to my eyes.  When you know that something you have written touches someone else this deeply, it touches you more than words can say.

Laura creates some beautiful stuff with her videos, and I can't for the life of me understand why they don't all have thousands of views.  These are good quality videos that are positive and uplifting.  Yes, they sometimes deal with difficult subjects, but they leave you feeling good and hopeful.

I'm especially fond of the "Stephanie" character.  If you don't know what that means, then you've got to see the video.

Give Laura some love watching the video and subscribing!  Let's all support content that makes a difference!

And don't forget to check out my book, Hope And Possibility Through Trauma.

How Far Can You Go?

Written By Don Shetterly

What can you be today in your life?  How far can you go?  What is possible?

We should ask ourselves these are questions continually.  We have the potential to be more than we are at this moment no matter what we are facing.

I have faced insurmountable odds in my life and been told that I'll never regain my life.  I have proved everyone wrong that has said this to me.

We have potential that we often don't realize we do.  When push comes to shove, we can usually rise far about where we are.  In difficulty, that's when we find our strength.

So ask yourself these questions.

• What can you be today in your life?

• How far can you go?

• What is possible?

By asking the question, you are inviting your mind to see life in ways that may not be visible.  You're giving yourself a way forward beyond where you currently are in your life.

Let's start out this year thinking about what can be, not all that is not.

Join with me and give your thoughts in the comments below.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 11/30/17 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required in writing before any part of this blog is reprinted, reworded, transmitted or used in any format. 
• Feel free to share the blog post LINK and a brief summary.  

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Dealing With Panic Attacks

Written By Don Shetterly

Years ago, when I went through Conversion Disorder, I struggled with moments that the doctors hardly understood, let alone had terminology for.  I remember having a "panic attack", as it was called at the time, and given a pamphlet to be taken home to read.

The only thing is the panic attack was a symptom of a much larger condition.  Up to that point, the doctors had only diagnosed me with Multiple Sclerosis, which was later found to be wrong.  I would not know for some time that the diagnoses were Conversion Disorder, depression, and anxiety.  The doctors kept these things from me in those days.

We were all focused on getting to the point I could walk again, as I was paralyzed at that point.  The goal was to get me integrated back into my regular daily routine and activities as quickly as I could, but I'm not sure anyone thought it was possible.

Noise From A Yard Sale...

When I got home from the hospital, I remember waking up that first morning.  I heard a lot of people outside my door. Peering through the window, I noticed what appeared to be a yard sale by my neighbors.

This would be considered a reasonable thing by most people but all of the sudden, I would find myself shaking, crying, and struggling to catch my breath.  I was scared beyond belief.  I tried to hide on my couch, but the people's noises and talking would not stop.  I had no idea what was going on with me.  I felt as if I was going to die.  I didn't know what to do.

Calling my doctor, he prescribed medication for me and then I made the bold gesture of trying to go out and make it to the pharmacy.  I made it about two blocks before my legs were shaking so much and my breathing was to the point I felt like I was going to pass out.  Driving a stick-shift pickup was not easy, and I managed just to turn around and go back home.

Nothing was calming down.  My breathing was way off and challenging.  I felt so full of despair.  I finally called a co-worker friend to get the prescription for me.  The medication helped, but it knocked me out for hours.

Anxiety Took Me Down...

There would be many more times I'd have to deal with anxiety, from venturing outside my house to trying to get back to work, to going inside a store.  Anxiety would hit me hard and take me down quickly.

I learned to go without stimulants like sugar, coffee, chocolate, soft drinks and anything that might kick my body up.  While that helped, it wasn't the cure - but it helped.  I had many sessions of therapy where we would work through the anxiety issues, but it seemed as if they were never-ending.

Another thing I did was to keep a small rock in my pocket wherever I went.  I learned that if I felt a panic attack coming on, I could reach in my pocket without anyone knowing and just grab ahold of the rock.  To me, it felt grounding and safe so that even when my life felt out of control, the rock helped bring me back.

Would I Make It...

Life was a struggle.  It was difficult.  Normal things to other people were difficult life-challenging issues to me.  In those days, I wondered if I would ever make it.  I wondered if I would get beyond this and back to a normal life.

I have since learned so much more about how to deal with anxiety.  Even at times when it gets the best of me, it is nowhere to the level of full-blown panic attacks that it once was.  I have done so much intense and deep healing work using Unified Therapy that the anxiety is a fraction of what it once was.

While the mind plays a starring role in a panic or anxiety attack, the body is what generates it.  This is the most helpful revelation that I have found in my healing.  Ignoring the physical presence of why it is coming up makes it harder to deal with anxiety.  Dealing with what the cells of the body remember is where freedom and liberation from a whole new level takes place.

I never was one to accept a condition I had or a label handed to me.  I fought those hard, and I still do.  I know that if I latch on to the condition I was given, I see myself as that issue, not as potential for healing.  I desire healing.

I've fought the odds against so much that I was not supposed to conquer.  Even to this day, I do not accept where I am.  I'm always striving to push forward to places that too many believe do not exist.  As I heal more and more, I am finding that there is so much hope and possibility.

Follow Me On

• Twitter:  @MindBodyThought

• Facebook:   MindBodyThoughts

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Mind Body Thoughts and My Creativity

Written by Don Shetterly

If you've been around the blog long enough, you probably know that I'm an author and music artist.  If not, let me take a moment to just introduce myself and what I create.

I am a survivor of child sexual abuse.  At age 26, I suffered from Conversion Disorder and dealt with paralysis, suicide attempts, depression, and anxiety.  I was a workaholic and perfectionist.  I could not let anyone down, even if it meant total destruction of myself.  As much as I thought I knew how to deal with stress, I honestly had no clue!

For years I fooled myself until it caught up with me, and my world came crashing down.  The two books I have written are part of my healing journey through the torture and trauma I experienced.  I am currently finalizing a new book with an expected publishing date of early 2018.

If you found this page through a tweet I posted, it most likely corresponds to one of the books below that is idenitifed by the picture in the tweet.  

Hope And Possibility Through Trauma

Hope And Possibility Through Trauma is my full-length book helping those who have been through so much in life.  If you've experienced childhood sexual abuse or trauma or other horrific moments in your life, this book will speak to you and help give you hope and possibility that you too can heal.  Available on Amazon.

A Journey Through Words

A Journey Through Words is a full-color spiral bound book of poetry and other writings.  It is filled with many poems and thoughts, created as I was struggling to find my way through the difficult moments of healing.  It includes raw thoughts and emotions from where I was at in those moments.  Available on LuLu Press

Relaxing Piano Music

I create relaxing piano music that can be found on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, CDBaby and many other digital download sites.  It is piano music without any lyrics, from my heart.  Connect with the feeling and emotions of what you hear in the songs I have created. www.DonShetterly.com

From My Heart With Love

These things I have created are part of the way I help support my life and my purpose of working to help others.  I know how difficult it is to deal with pain, and through my creativity, words, and music, I want to be there for others.  I want to help shine the light for them to find footing on their own path.

Many have asked me to allow donations, and if you want, you can always do that at https://www.paypal.me/DShetterly .  However, I would like to ask that you help support me through the creative works I have available.  Click the images and links above for ways you can do this.

I continue to do the things I do out of love in my heart, and I just put these options as a way for others to join this cause.  I know many are hurting and I work hard to be a voice of support and help through the painful moments of healing in life.

Stay tuned, because there is another exciting project coming very soon!

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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my book quote

Yet for so many of us, we go through life feeling as if events and circumstances are in control of who we are.  We are blown by various winds in our day, drenched by the storms, and drawn to pretty colored fake neon signs.  These things take our eyes off our path and draw us away from why we are here.    (Pg 181, Hope And Possibility Through Trauma)

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Experiences Made Me What I Am Today

But as I know, all things that I encounter and all the experiences I have had up to this point in my life, have made what I am today.  It is the sum of all the parts of myself with the good, the bad, and the pieces I would greatly like to discard.  Without any of these parts, I would not be who I am today or where I am.  Pg 177, Hope And Possibility Through Trauma

I Was Featured In An Interview

The other day I had the opportunity to be interviewed for a site about my book.  I've actually written two books in the course of my life.

A Journey Through Words was more of a poetry book of some of the things that helped me through my own healing. 

Hope and Possibility Through Trauma was the second book.  It was born out of my blog writing.  It was one that I wanted to put together to help people have hope in their own healing.  I wanted others to know there was a possibility that they could heal.

So often in our life, it feels like we won't make it.  It feels like we are all alone.  It feels like no one understands the pain we have gone through.

In addition, it can often feel like there is no hope or possibility in healing the trauma in our lives.  We just feel like we're on a journey all by ourselves.  While this is not true, it is part of the healing journey and a difficult part.

I am working on a new book that will go into more detail about some of the things that were helpful in my own healing.  No, it isn't a recipe book of healing, but one where I'm sharing the struggles I went through and key points that I used to help myself.  Often though, I didn't know I was implementing these healing strategies until long after I did.

This interview that was done gives you further insight into my own life, and why I wrote the books that I have.  It is a good read, and hopefully you'll take a moment to check it out.  I think you'll like it.

For the Interview (click the image below)

Book - A Journey Through Words

Book - Hope And Possibility Through Trauma

I Don't Stop Where I'm At

When my life stopped because I was paralyzed, I thought my entire world had ended.  I couldn't take care of myself.  I could not feed myself, not that I wanted food anyway.  Talking was almost impossible unless you count getting a word out every few minutes as normal.

I wanted to give up.  In fact, my body tried hard to give up.  I had seizures from the Conversion Disorder.  I struggled to keep myself awake.  The rest of the time I was either a zombie or asleep.  It was a terrifying ordeal considering the day before it started, I was up and running around just like everyone else.

In those days, there were no support groups to ask how to come out of this because the internet was barely a thing at the time.  It was in the early days of CompuServe and Prodigy and AOL.  It would be many years later before I would meet someone else with Conversion Disorder.

Of course, by this point in my life, I have healed so much and have been able to do much more than anyone ever thought I could.  In the early days, they didn't expect that I would make it, much less function normally and go back to work.  I proved them wrong.

I don't quit trying...

How did I prove them wrong?  I adopted the philosophy that I have always lived by in my life.  I don't stop where I'm at and I don't quit trying. 

I will turn my world upside down if I have to and I'll challenge anything that someone thinks is what I should believe.  I'm not one to just accept the situation I am in.  After all, when I was paralyzed, I didn't know if I would ever walk again at the time.

It took me saying I'm going to find my way through this while leaving no stone unturned.  I knew I had to keep looking for how to heal myself, because the doctors at the time didn't have a clue.  There was a way, but I had to let go of what I thought worked in my life to find out what did.

I had to let go...

I had to let go of everything that was my life up to that point.  I had to let go of what my family thought I should do and what friends thought I should do.  I had to walk over the edge of the cliff and take the leap so I could find the path before me.

By not stopping where I was and pushing into the unknown, I found my way through it, step by step.  I didn't hold on to labels.  I didn't hold on to the diagnosis.  I started to search for all that physically helped me and resonated with me.  I started to search for all that felt right, even if I could not see a difference in the early days.

I had to turn every stone over...

It was through letting go of all I was holding on to that I discovered the things that got me to walk again, talk again, and begin functioning in life once again.  None of it was easy.  None of it was immediate.  None of it was anything anyone could tell me to do.  I had to find the path forward and I had to turn over every stone until I saw where I could take a step.

Healing and experiences in life can be pretty daunting and challenging.  Sometimes they work hard to take us under.  As hard as it is to do, we do make the choices in how we proceed.  Many times, the choices seem limited and nonexistent, but they are there.  The process of finding them is where the healing begins.

I thought the odds of me recovering from what I went through were zero.  Yet, in the depths of despair and taking my last breaths, I decided in my mind that I was going to fight and come through this.  It was a difficult time and the choice to fight and find my way through was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.

Don't stop where you're at.  Don't think this is the way things will always be.  There is far more than we are aware of in this one single moment of time.  I do not accept any condition I face now as if it is the way things are.  I've learned that I have to give that up in order to find myself.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Adverse Childhood Experiences ACE study

This study is one that needs to be told to every corner of the world.  It was done by the CDC and Kaiser Permanente.

The study is often called the ACE study which stands for Adverse Childhood Experiences.  It was one of the largest studies into the impact of childhood abuse on health later on in life.

Some facts about how the study was done according to the CDC.gov website.

1. Two waves of data collection between 1995 and 1997 with over 17,000 people.
2. Study comprised of 54% women, 46% male.
3. Ethnicity and race was 74.8 white, followed by 11.2% Hispanic and Latino with other groups making up the difference.
4. Age ranges were more heavily sampled on 60 and over at 46.4%

Major Findings According To The ACE study

Almost two-thirds of the participants had at least one Adverse Childhood Experience.  More than 1 in 5 reported three or more Adverse Childhood Experiences.

The greater the number of experiences you have as a child that are adverse, the greater your risk for having chronic health conditions as you get older.  This study shows that in no uncertain terms.

The following website, AcesTooHigh.com does a good job of explaining this in more detail.

As the number of Adverse Childhood Experiences increases, so does the risk for the following:

• Alcoholism and alcohol abuse
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Depression
• Fetal death
• Health-related quality of life
• Illicit drug use
• Ischemic heart disease
• Liver disease
• Poor work performance
• Financial stress
• Risk for intimate partner violence
• Multiple sexual partners
• Sexually transmitted diseases
• Smoking
• Suicide attempts
• Unintended pregnancies
• Early initiation of smoking
• Early initiation of sexual activity
• Adolescent pregnancy
• Risk for sexual violence
• Poor academic achievement

 Adverse Childhood Experiences Definitions

1. Abuse
• Emotional abuse
• Physical Abuse
• Sexual Abuse
2. Household Challenges
• Mother treated violently
• Household substance abuse
• Mental illness in household
• Parental separation or divorce
• Criminal household member
3. Neglect
• Emotional neglect
• physical neglect

How To Calculate Your Ace Score

Answer the following questions to calculate your score.
(prior to your 18th birthday)

1. Did a parent or other adult in the household often or very often… Swear at you, insult you, put you down, or humiliate you? or Act in a way that made you afraid that you might be physically hurt?
   ___No
   ___If Yes, enter 1
   
2. Did a parent or other adult in the household often or very often… Push, grab, slap, or throw something at you? or Ever hit you so hard that you had marks or were injured?
   ___No
   ___If Yes, enter 1
3. Did an adult or person at least 5 years older than you ever… Touch or fondle you or have you touch their body in a sexual way? or Attempt or actually have oral, anal, or vaginal intercourse with you?
   ___No
   ___If Yes, enter 1
4. Did you often or very often feel that … No one in your family loved you or thought you were important or special? or Your family didn’t look out for each other, feel close to each other, or support each other?
   ___No
   ___If Yes, enter 1
5. Did you often or very often feel that … You didn’t have enough to eat, had to wear dirty clothes, and had no one to protect you? or Your parents were too drunk or high to take care of you or take you to the doctor if you needed it?
   ___No
   ___If Yes, enter 1
6. Were your parents ever separated or divorced?
   ___No
   ___If Yes, enter 1
7. Was your mother or stepmother:
   Often or very often pushed, grabbed, slapped, or had something thrown at her? or Sometimes, often, or very often kicked, bitten, hit with a fist, or hit with something hard? or Ever repeatedly hit over at least a few minutes or threatened with a gun or knife?
   ___No
   ___If Yes, enter 1
8. Did you live with anyone who was a problem drinker or alcoholic, or who used street drugs?
   ___No
   ___If Yes, enter 1
9. Was a household member depressed or mentally ill, or did a household member attempt suicide?
   ___No
   ___If Yes, enter 1
   
10. Did a household member go to prison?
    ___No
    ___If Yes, enter 1

Understanding The Score

Add up all your "YES" answers and that is your ACE score.

The higher the ACE score, the greater health risk you have.  It becomes an index where your risk for the health factors listed previously become more a reality.

I'm a firm believer in that if you have a health condition, as long as it is not past the point of no return, I think a person can turn it around.  Think of a train going off a cliff that once it gets to the end of the track, there is no stopping it.  However, if we're not at that point, we still have a chance to slow the train down.  I understand that I am often in the minority on this and many may think I just don't understand.  I use my own life's experiences and conditions as proof of this conclusion.

So, I don't accept that any physical health condition cannot be stopped or reversed.  This is my opinion and I cannot base it upon fact.  So, please don't take this as medical advice because it is not intended to be that.  Just don't limit yourself to the current medical wisdom out there.  I believe there is far more within us that can turn things around.

In my own life, health problems that I thought I would have to live with are no longer a major concern for me.  I don't take medication.  Yes, I still have things that crop up on me physically and mentally, but I've learned the tools that pull me back out of hell.   There have been some major physical things that I thought were not something I could change and yet, I've discovered that I can really impact them and sometimes pretty quickly.   

Why Does All This Matter

When you have been through childhood abuse, if you don't deal with it - it will deal with you.  You may think you're getting away with it and it doesn't affect you, but sooner or later it will catch up.  It will bring you front and center with it.  You may still choose to deny it at that point, but if you do, things will only get worse and I think you reach the point of no return.

From what I have experienced in my own life and through the healing work that I've learned, there is a way to reclaim your physical body and mind and heal from these adverse childhood experiences. Unfortunately, we often just give lip service to this concept while ignoring the true impacts and how we can have great influence over what happens as a result.

At one time, I thought that physical ailments on the body and mind were life sentences.  I shouldn't be standing here today writing what I am because everyone at one point thought my future was hopeless.  I've battled the depression, anxiety, suicide,  migraine headaches, ulcers, allergies, skin issues, high pulse rate and many other physical ailments.  At one time, I thought that was just the way things are.

I won't tell you today that my life is perfect and free from all of these physical issues, but I now have more tools in my toolbox to help me deal with things, without turning to medical procedures, surgeries and medications.  At one time, I needed some of those things, but it was because I didn't have the tools I now have.

It takes work and courage...

It takes a lot of work and courage to get to this point.  It is not easy and I will never mislead anyone into thinking it is just a matter of changing one's thoughts or living by some platitude or meme.  In order to begin healing, you have to go into those deep dark horror moments of life and learn how to take the power back from them.

This is not just a mental exercise, although the mind and your thoughts play a major role.  This is an exercise where with time, you learn how to feel and connect to your body through the felt sense as it connects with your mind.  When you understand that in order to heal your mind, you must feel in your body that which is hard to feel and is often blinded by fear.

Feeling in the body....

Feeling in the body is the most advanced way I have found to heal the adverse childhood experiences I have been through.  My ACE score is very high.  I've been through a lot and unless I would not have started to use Unified Therapy and the concepts behind it, I would have never made it this far.  My life was crashing when I first started to understand and explore how to heal my body and mind.

Therapy and counseling helped me tremendously, but in the end, I had neglected the body part of the mind body connection.  It is in the body part of my healing where I started to physically empower my life once again and heal in ways that I did not think were possible.  It was not some pie-in-the-sky concept, but one that has been proven many times over on many people. It does work!  You can heal!

Fear has been my constant enemy...

Fear has been my constant enemy that I have loathed and despised.  It has held me back by fooling me into thinking that I can't heal and that none of my progress is real.  Fear has kept me hunkering down in the corner hiding in the shadows as if that was the sum total of my life.  Fear has kept me withering in life as if I had no power or worth or value.

We all have to find our way through healing and the experiences we have been through.  However, I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that if the body is not engaged in healing, the mind will only take you so far.  Memes, platitudes, and simple healing statements may have their place, but often they get in the way of the real - down-to-earth work that we need to do.

When life takes you far enough down the trail of no return, it either gets your attention or if you continue to ignore it, you will suffer greatly.  We do have the power to change our life from the inside out, but only if we allow ourselves to go through the fear and find it.  Often that requires a person who truly understands the effect of trauma on the body and there are far too few that do.

For a long time, I have known about the ACE study because of Unified Therapy by Dr. Paul Canali.  He uses this with his patients and helps them realize the cause-effect between trauma and their current health conditions.  It is a great tool to begin helping you see the relationship of what trauma does to your current health and well-being.

Further Information

Here is a video done of an interview of some topics, but one of those is the ACE Study.  It is with Jim Fazio and Dr. Paul Canali.  Jim is a practitioner that has learned Unified Therapy and is having wonderful success with it on his own clients. 

Final Thoughts

Where ever you are today in your life, go further - discover more and realize that there is much more potential in healing than may seem possible, feasible or even real.

I really admire Dr. Paul Canali because he has helped me understand that the body connection is where the true healing is at and without it, I would not have made it as far as I did.  He doesn't just understand the concepts of healing trauma as a pioneer in this field.  He knows how to implement them and see results from one patient to another.

Years ago, they told me I would most likely never function 100% again.  I proved the medical world wrong.  At one point they were bringing me back to life and it was up to me from that point on to go beyond what I thought I knew so that I could truly heal.

If you want to know more about my own story, check out my book, "Hope And Possibility Through Trauma"

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Does The Pain Really End?

This is something I wrote as an answer to a question posed to me on Twitter.  For me, the pain and suffering in life has definitely changed.  I don't feel the same pain that I did years ago and now, it only takes up a part of my life, not all of it.  I would be dishonest if I said it was not there, but its not controlling my life.

Yes, I have my moments where things connect and kind of zap me momentarily, but my days are filled with more ease, contentment, joy, and love, rather than struggling through intense pain and suffering. At one time, I cursed the pain but I can now see it as something which gives me a different viewpoint and a different side of life. 

I can now see pain as a way to open up my eyes and embrace things that I didn't realize were there.  I can see it as an opportunity.  At one time, I would have popped someone for suggesting there was anything good about pain.

The pain brought me down....

For a long time, the pain really brought me down. It affected me physically and mentally and in just about everything I did. I never thought I would get beyond it or past it. I never thought there was enough hope to see things differently. I thought I was sentenced to a lifetime of pain and suffering and despair.

The interesting thing is that as I continued to move through the pain, the darkness around me lifted and I began to see my journey in a different way. There was more light to see with and the more I was able to view it, the more I could observe the things I could not see.

It's not like waving a magic wand...

I'm not going to say, it's like waving a magic wand. That is too simplistic and the pain and suffering that I went through was unbearable and almost to difficult to endure. Most people don't live through some of the pains I've experienced, but we all have our own pain to deal with in our life.

It is healthy to honor that pain and not minimize it or shun it or run from it. Yes, that takes a great deal of courage and strength at times, but that's where the gigantic moments of healing take place.

If you would have told me years ago that I would have made it to this point in how I view the pain and suffering, I would have laughed and scoffed. It was not something I could dream of or imagine, but as I continued on my healing journey, the pain was slowly replaced with life, joy, hope and possibility.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Healing Conversion Disorder Podcast

While this interview was done a couple of years ago, the information is still relevant to Conversion Disorder today.  With the news of assisted suicide in Canada, where a woman found no way out of conversion disorder, I thought the time is right to highlight this interview again.  There is hope.  Don't ever give up!

I know of others that have been through this and found their way out.  In fact, I was one of those that went through Conversion Disorder with paralysis and pseudo-seizures, among many other things.  At the time, I could not piece everything together as to what caused it, but in time the story began to emerge.

This video interview podcast is a discussion I had with Dr. Paul Canali of the Evolutionary Healing Institute in Miami, Florida.  He is a pioneer in the treatment of trauma and helping people recover their lives from the inside-out.  Dr. Canali has been instrumental in helping me fully recover and several others that have been through Conversion Disorder.

I have hosted the podcast and more information on a another website I run, so please check it out. There is some excellent information in here that you most likely have not heard presented in the way that it is.  The website is Somatosync.com .

Some of the topics covered include in the interview:

1. What is Conversion Disorder?
2.  Is Conversion Disorder all in your head?
3. What are some examples of Conversion Disorder?
4. Does there have to be major trauma for Conversion Disorder?
5. What are some of the first steps a person can take to recover?

Listen to the Podcast with Dr. Paul Canali

(click image to read)

Diagnosis Of Conversion Disorder

Here is another great interview I found on Conversion Disorder by Dr.  Rochelle Caplan.  She had a very good way of helping to understand what Conversion Disorder is and the struggle to diagnose it.

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Read My Personal Story

To learn more about my personal story and journey through Conversion Disorder, please check out my book, Hope And Possibility Through Trauma by Don Shetterly.

When I was in the early stages, there was so much I did not realize and know.  This is part of Conversion Disorder from my experience because if we knew these things, then most likely we could avoid this horrible ordeal.

If you're going through Conversion Disorder, please know that you are not alone and there is hope.  There is a way through it, but it requires courage and going outside the box of paradigms.  I had to let go of much of what I thought was true in life to find out what really was true.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Too Busy To Take Care Of Myself

I know, we all have many demands on our time.  I get it.  I understand.  For a long time I was traveling every week and that did not always leave much time to stop and smell the roses.  It did not allow me to take care of myself and do the things that I needed to do.

If I am too busy to take care of myself, at some point my body will stop me in my tracks.  If anyone thinks that they can go forever and ever without something happening, you're just walking on thin ice in the lake and getting lucky.

I am talking from experience after having a Conversion Disorder and being paralyzed, then trying to piece my life back together.  You can find out more about that in my book, Hope And Possibility Through Trauma.

Sure, I went through other stuff in life that contributed to it, but right before the Conversion Disorder hit, I was working 6.5 days a week almost 18 hours a day trying to be the best employee I could be.  I was too busy to take care of myself but I was never too busy to overwork myself.

It came at a price and almost cost me my life.  It was a wake up call.  Even though I know all of this, I still went through a job recently that just about killed me again.  I guess I am too hard headed to learn and so I went back down.  I'm still recovering from that time of being too busy to take care of myself.

You may not get a Conversion Disorder and paralysis.  However, there are things like cancer, heart attacks, back pain, and many other conditions that creep up on us.  If you ignore your body, there is a high probability that at some point, your body will get your attention.

You can pay now by taking care of yourself or you can pay later when things are pretty serious.  It is your choice in all that you do.  We choose to do like I did and work day and night or we choose to enjoy life and take care of our mind and body.  No one else does that for us although we often think they do.

We only have one body and one mind.  If we waste it and exhaust it and overwork it, what good will it be to us in  20, 40, or 60 years?  When we are younger, we think we have all the resources and time we need, but as we get older, all this stuff starts to accumulate and then begin knocking on the door to get our attention.

Let's try not to be too busy to take care of ourselves.  Our body and mind will thank us for it.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Hope And Possibility Through Trauma

Buy on Amazon

One of the ways that I deal with life is through writing.  It is my way of processing what is happening in my brain especially when I cannot make sense of life.  This is how my book, Hope And Possibility Through Trauma was created.

I did not set out to write a book, but with time, I began to see that what I had written over the years could more than easily fill a book.  I saw that if I shared what I had written, it could help many people.  The process of picking and choosing and organizing what I put in my book out of what I had written over the years, was not an easy one.

The words in my book depict the struggles and challenges I faced as well as the moments where I had insights.  It is a timeline of how I processed all that I did, but not in a boring way.  It was written as my healing unfolded.

Buy on Amazon 

Kindle or Paperback.

I have been through a lot of trauma and torture and sexual abuse at those who wish to deny my existence.  Mental and emotional abuse was a big part of my experience as well as religion.  It has taken me years to heal and get to the point I am now, but sometimes my life is still far too fragile.  There are many things that I wish I could forget and far too much that I wish I could recall.

Hope And Possibility Through Trauma is an inspirational book showing all that I went through as I recorded what I wrote over the years.  It is by no means a complete account of all that happened as that is for the next book I am now working on.

If you have been through child abuse, trauma, and torture, this book will speak to you.  It will show you courage in the face of overwhelming experiences of life and it will show you that there is Hope And Possibility Through Trauma.

Hope And Possibility Through Trauma by Don Shetterly is available in printed and Kindle formats at Amazon.com.

You can also learn more about Don Shetterly on his website DonShetterly.com .

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Insights Into Memory

I'm often intrigued and perplexed and in awe of this most misunderstood part of our brain and body.  We all have a memory, but in many different bodies, it works better for some and not so good for others.  Often our memory starts out better when we are young and diminishes with time.  I stand in awe of what it does and where it fails.

In my own life, my memory has been my greatest advocate and my strongest adversary.  It has been there for me, but it at times is a haunting force that I would best flee.  There are times that it has brought the most beautiful moments up in my life while forcing me to face those times which were pure horror and torture.

Traumatic Memories

In Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk's book, The Body Keeps The Score, I still remember him stating that the mind remembers too much and too little at the same time.  This is especially true in the face of a traumatic past.  [insert book picture]

I've seen people forget the horrible abuse and torture they inflicted upon others, acting as if it never happened.  At the same time, the traumatized victim that was the recipient, is haunted every day of their life, desperately trying to get their memory to forget.  How can a memory work one way for someone in these shoes and yet, totally different for someone else?

Memory And Conversion Disorder

When I was paralyzed by a Conversion Disorder, I reached the point where I could barely remember my name.  Most things in my life were a blur, including the trauma that I had been through.  It was easier for my mind and memory to forget all that had happened in hopes of keeping me alive, then to confront the ugly truth that lied beyond the fog.

I know as I get older, my memory is sometimes fuzzy at best and other times, it is like an encyclopedia.  There are the little things that I forget.  There are the more recent things that sometimes are hard to grasp.  Often, it feels like I need a complete defrag as one would do with a computer.  If only I could find that button to push.

Alive Inside

I remember seeing another documentary called "Alive Inside".  In this program, they show that people with various conditions including memory issues would come alive when music from their past was played.  I experimented with a trauma survivor and behold, it does work.  An almost comatose person started coming alive the minute I played one of their favorite songs.

NOVA - PBS

On Nova (PBS), I saw a documentary called Memory Hackers.  I was gulping up the information that they displayed because I believe the more we come to understand our mind and memory, the more we can evolve and grow and heal our mind body connections. 

Memory Hackers

Top 5 Things From Memory Hackers

The top five things I got from the Memory Hackers program was as follows.

1. Memory is not what we thought it was.  It isn't something we store one time and it remains that way until we die.  It can be changed every time it is recalled.
2. Telling the memory repeatedly can often allow us to alter and mold it into something it is not.  It gives an opportunity of rewriting parts of the memory as we tell it and store it away.
3. We all have parts of our memories it seems that we would like to forget or stop from controlling our every day life through phobias.  While there are ethical implications, there are real ways being tested in a laboratory to do this.
4. If someone has a great memory, it does not necessarily mean they are the smartest person around as evidenced by the HSAM section.
5. Various parts of a memory are stored in different sections of our brain which include all our senses, experiences, and emotions that were going on at the time.  

Hippocampus And Memory

The hippocampus is vital in bringing all these parts back together.   It is almost like the conductor and while it attempts to bring things at the right moment, memory is not always linear. 

There are far too many times that I have had emotions come up without the full memory, or a sensation that has happened and yet there is no emotion.  There are times a story arises, but there are no senses, emotions, or other experiences that I can put together to make sense of it.

I still remember the nightmares that lasted many years of being afraid of the color purple.  It seems strange and odd to most that the color purple would bring out terrifying horrors of anxiety, anger, and depression.  It was not until Thanksgiving of 1997 that the color purple finally came into full view and I saw the memory for what it was.

Oprah Male Survivor Show

When I went to the Oprah taping of the 200 Male Survivor show, it was an emotional experience.  Hearing others tell their stories immediately connected to those experiences in my own life.  I was a wrung out mess of tears by the time I left and in many ways, I felt so out of it.

Normally, you will not hear me telling my story over and over.  I have longed in many ways to forget these things even though I know that sharing my story may help others.  I've always been cautious in telling the memories repeatedly, because I felt that things could be altered as my mind tried to make sense of what was going on.  With this Nova program on Memory Hackers, I can see that my gut instinct was right.

Unified Therapy - Dr. Paul Canali

In Unified Therapy, we often bring a person to the edge of those moments where the memory is alive.  We do it through the felt sense or what some call interoception.  This is the act of feeling something deep within our body without becoming lost in it.  It helps empower us while bringing about awareness and through that awareness, we can begin to change it and alter it.  Often when we have been through traumatic moments in our life, our memory suffers because our brain shuts down feeling, so that we can survive.  Through turning the felt sense back on, we begin to discover and connect our mind and body together.

Conclusion

I so wish I could wave a magic wand and erase all the bad memories.  Even though I know it is possible in the research lab, I question if the body truly forgets too, or if there is some residual part of the body that will continue to poison the mind.  Only, in this case, the poison of the bad memory has nowhere to go.  It just fills the empty void.  It is my biggest concern because I've seen how my own body responded to memories that I could not recall easily.

I don't have all the answers and I know most don't.  It is wonderful to see different parts of our scientific, medical, and alternative healing worlds coming together to better understand our memory.  It is the continued focus on how our memory functions that will bring greater truths of healing and empowerment for individuals.

In this day and age of MRI scans, we can no longer sit by and embrace the paradigms of old with respect to memory.  We are living in a new day and age, and the advancement for our civilization and human body is in the mind.  I've seen this in my own life and I am excited by the possibilities of discovery for what lies ahead.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2/17/16 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Deeper Moments Within Yourself

May you find those deep moments within yourself that help you reset, give you renewal, and a different outlook.  May your own meditation bring you deeper within yourself.

Hope And Possibility Through Trauma by Don Shetterly (pg 155)

Ask The Question

And we are taught that when we ask the question, we wait for the answer and listen to the answer because it will appear. You may not see it directly or you may, but it will show up if you allow it.

Book:   Hope And Possibility Through Trauma by Don Shetterly (pg 82)

Something Was Actually Happening

One of the things that was extremely difficult for me when I was in the thick of my healing, was seeing that something was actually happening and that I was moving forward.  Often when we are in the middle of a major change in our lives, we cannot always see what is going on. 

- Page 40, Hope And Possibility Through Trauma

Trauma In Conversion Disorder

Here is a very good article about how we numb our life when faced with very traumatic situations.  In the case of Conversion Disorder (also known as Functional Neurological Disorder), people who suffer from this, readily and easily minimize trauma.

When I went through the paralysis in 1991 (read my book for more details), I could have convinced not only myself but the world that everything was fine.  I didn't want to even think about anything that I had been through and so I did not.  I fooled many people including myself, but yet deep down I knew I was holding on to secrets.

Our minds deal with trauma in the best way they know how.  It isn't so much that we want to fake others out or hide from the truth, but that the events are usually so overwhelming, that there is no other choice.  Our brains go to great lengths to protect us and in the face of trauma, numbing and minimizing is the first line of defense.

While I realize that most people who are faced with a diagnosis of conversion disorder or who may not even have arrived at that connection yet, do not want to think something is wrong with them psychologically.  They usually do not want to piece the trauma and the physical symptoms together.  Instead, they generally try to avoid that and demand or seek out any treatment which might give them temporary relief.

Opportunity To Embrace Fear

So if we feel we really have to embrace the fear that we make mistakes in life, why not try turning the tables on the thought process for a moment.  If we see mistakes as an opportunity toward greater awareness or insight, then the person who makes many mistakes has many opportunities in life.  Just imagine having all those opportunities.  Hope And Possibility Through Trauma by Don Shetterly (Pg 137)