Panic And Rage

That moment that happens in your day.  That second when you go from complete stillness to all our panic and rage.  That moment where you feel that you are losing control and you become so angry with yourself that you can't modulate life better.

If that describes you in any way, just know that you're not alone.  I've worked for years on this issue and while I've made progress, there are still moments that panic and rage happen before I can even think about what is happening.  Some moments in life are worse than others and some are better than others.

There are certain triggers like the thumping of a bass sound from a car stereo that will drive me absolutely crazy.  There are triggers like being in a store with the isles having several people or shopping carts in them leaving me feeling trapped.

Easing My Lower Back Pain

Yesterday in a blink of an eye, I felt that twinge.  I was just leaning down on the floor to take a picture of my cat, when all of the sudden, I felt that OUCH in my lower back.  The only thing I could do at that moment was put my camera down, roll over and lay on the floor.  I wanted to cry.  The pain was intense.  I probably did cry!

It was difficult to move at first.  I wasn't sure if I could get up or not.  The panic set in and the fears crowded my mind as I lay on the cold floor, letting the spasms subside just a little.

Its an all too familiar pain for me and not because this happens a lot, but because many years ago, it set off paralysis in me.  I still remember that fateful day of leaving church because my back was hurting so much.  I came home and laid down, only to have my entire world turned upside down.  You can read more about that in my book, Hope And Possibility Through Trauma.

Gavin the ATF Explosive Canine Traumatized

On one episode of the Dog Whisperer, there was a story about a dog named Gavin. For 5 years, Gavin had been an ATF Explosive Canine or otherwise known as a bomb searching dog.

These dogs go in and detect the bombs, than sit down in such a way that the handler knows they have found something. The dogs are trained to not disturb what they find so that if it is a bomb, it will not go off.

Gavin and his handler went to Iraq always doing what was asked of him. When bombs were going off around them, he would freeze and quiver and shake just as his handler would do as well.

After Gavin returned from Iraq, the area he was living in experienced two major hurricanes, Katrina and Wilma. At the time, his handler was away on an assignment but Gavin was in the house. The windows were shaking and rattling which caused Gavin to go from room to room hiding. It was hard for them to get Gavin to eat and he was suffering from a canine form of PTSD.

After the hurricane, they could not get Gavin to come back inside the house and they literally had to drag him inside. During a 4th of July part, Gavin got so scared of the fireworks and found his way into a neighbor's bathroom shower stall to hide. They found him quivering and to frozen in fear and panic to come outside. After the incident with the fireworks, almost any type of sound would cause Gavin to hide and quiver and shake.

Ceaser Milan, the Dog Whisperer from that National Geographic channel was called in to help Gavin. The entire saga and episode was very interesting to watch because much of what Ceaser did with Gavin centers around the same concepts that Dr. Canali is teaching and working with others about trauma. Trauma, PTSD, panic attacks, and many other things usually find a home in the body through some form of traumatic experience or an ongoing buildup of stress.

Our bodies are designed to handle great deals of stress but when the nervous system is overloaded so dramatically in a moment or for a long period of time, the body and the mind changes. The switch gets flipped and soon a normal human being is acting in ways that are not related to the current circumstances. It is like the person becomes something they are not and which does not make sense.

Many have been traumatized in some way throughout our life. Some of us have experienced more than others but the net effect is still the same on the body. It impacts the body in very physical ways. If we allow this to continue in our life, it alters who we really are and are meant to be. If we use these things to transform ourselves, than we have the ability to do great things and to evolve ourselves in awareness and consciousness.

At one time, I thought trauma and child abuse were life sentences. However, I learned through the paralysis and conversion disorder I suffered from, that with time, healing and courageous work, I could move beyond these things. Yes, these horrible moments from my past do still affect me from time to time but I have learned that as I use the after affects to my benefit, that much greater things can arise.

No longer do I need to be on medications for anxiety, depression, migraines, nervous stomach, allergies and many other things. No longer do I need to live in constant fear of the fears that surrounded my life. No longer do I need to allow these things to pull me under and hold me back from living the life I was meant to live. Yet, at one time, the trauma I experienced did seem like a life sentence that I would never live beyond.

Much like Gavin, there was a switch flipped in my mind and much like this ATF dog, I was able to go in and heal myself physically. The healing does not just happen in the mind. It has to happen from inside the body, outward. The brain and mind is only a part of the equation. The rest of the equation happens in the body because the cells remember what happened even when the mind struggles to piece things together. In other words, there are issues in the tissues. Until the body is engaged in the healing process, the fears will still be a haunting force and true peace will only be a hopeful dream.


To Learn More About Gavin on The Dog Whisperer, click here

Learn About Dr. Paul Canali at Evolutionary Healing, click here

Read My Story, Hope And Possibility Through Trauma, click here




Blog Post & Images (c) 2/6/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com

Fearing Fear

"Only thing we have to fear is fear itself" - Franklin D. Roosevelt

As I see the hysteria and panic over the swine flu that is hitting the world, the above statement came to mind. Yes, I do realize this is a health threat and it is serious but the panic and hysteria is only fueling the problem. Diseases and health conditions have a low vibration and so when you add fear and hysteria to that, you only reinforce and lower the vibration level. Of course, as a society and as individuals we can choose to focus on the fear, thereby only hurting ourselves more in the long run.

What if, on the other hand, we view life through a different paradigm. The paradigm that says we are all healthy, vibrant individuals with so much possibility, so much strength and life. We bring in that which we need to our lives and we celebrate all that life and the universal source has given us. We discard that which is focused on what could happen or the fear of what could happen and we rid ourselves of the vibrant energy robbers of past events. Our daily lives focus on taking in all that is healthy through the food we eat, the activities we participate in and the true rest and relaxation that we give our bodies. As we do this, we give way to a higher vibration in our lives thereby not giving worry to the panic and hysteria of the day.

While it is helpful to take basic precautions in life, we do not need to embrace fear and allow fear to run our lives. A helpful dose of fear can be a motivator in how we live our life and how we allow ourselves to grow but it becomes hurtful when we allow it to rule our lives.

Go forth in possibility, in life and in abundance.