PTSD Healing: Meet Dr. Meaning

Some days you just need to go on a road trip. Today’s one of those days, people! Follow me to the Huffington Post where I want you to meet my new friend, Dr. Alex Pattakos.

Affectionately dubbed ‘Dr. Meaning’, Dr. Pattakos is a pioneer in transformational thinking. (Sounds like just our kind of guy!) Healing the past is always about transforming our thinking and changing our (sub)conscious perspective about traumatic events. There are those who say you can do that by constantly looking backward, but I believe it's more productive to turn your face toward the future and get a whole new view of the world.

Who better to give us good insight about moving out of the past and into a better future than the founder of the Center For Meaning? Pattakos’ highly acclaimed book, Prisoners of Our Thoughts, is based on the teachings of his mentor, Victor Frankl. The book lays out the following seven principles for learning how to bring deeper meaning and fulfillment to our lives. These are qualities that are healing because they represent choices we make about ourselves and our lives now, today, in the present. The more we live, love, create and enjoy in the present, the less we are affected by the past, the stronger we become in the future. I deeply believe that the foundation of healing is the development of a post-trauma identity. The BRIDGE THE GAP workshop is a path to that. Pattakos’ 7 Core Principles are pilons supporting that bridge:

1 - Exercise the freedom to choose your attitude—in all situations, no matter how desperate they may appear or actually be, you always have the ultimate freedom to choose your attitude.

2 - Realize your will to meaning—commit authentically to meaningful values and goals that only you can actualize and fulfill.

3 - Detect the meaning of life's moments—only you can answer for your own life by detecting the meaning at any given moment and assuming responsibility for weaving your unique tapestry of existence.

4 - Don't work against yourself—avoid becoming so obsessed with or fixated on an intent or outcome that you actually work against the desired result.

5 - Look at yourself from a distance—only human beings possess the capacity to look at themselves out of some perspective or distance, including the uniquely human trait known as your "sense of humor".

6 - Shift your focus of attention—deflect your attention from the problem situation to something else and build your coping mechanisms for dealing with stress and change.

7 - Extend beyond yourself—manifest the human spirit at work by relating and being directed to something more than yourself.

Interesting concepts, no? And this is just a quick overview. I’m about to read Prisoners of our Thoughts and then I’ll be able to flesh out the ideas with a fuller understanding.

Now that you’re all warmed up and ready to go, let’s head over to Huff Post where Dr. Pattakos recently posted an article on ‘Dereflection’, which I thought was so wonderful and informative I left a comment, which Pattakos thought was so terrific he conferred upon me the ‘Zorba the Greek’ award. Come on, let’s have some fun….

(photo: Alex Pattakos)

Healing PTSD: Words of Wisdom & Inspiration

The essence of healing PTSD is two-fold:

Number 1 – we need to rout out the traumatic memory on the subconscious level

Number 2 – we need to construct a post-trauma identity

That’s it; pretty plain and simple. In the subconscious realm where we house our feelings and emotions, where experience is imprinted beyond our control, we need therapeutic help to reframe events and release our attachments to them.

On the conscious level, however…. it’s a whole other ball game. In the conscious arena we can effect change through making decisions, committing to them and following through. Plan. Commit. Act. Heal.

This means we can construct a post-trauma identity – a new self, undistorted by trauma, unaffected by PTSD – through choice, focus and action.

This idea of creating the self is very familiar to creative artists. On the outskirts of society, unappreciated and initially undiscovered, many artists have had only their own self and their belief in that self to rely upon in practicing, promoting and achieving their art.

Like us, artists do not have the strongest social personalities, nor are they comfortable in their own skin, at peace with their desires or in step with the world around them. Often, they are reclusive, troubled, disturbed, insecure and frightened. And yet, despite the chaos in their minds (and many of their documented mental illnesses) they construct strong personas and commit to living them with fearless dedication. The end goal is their art, and they will do anything for it. Despite their mental issues they call up a deep reserve of strength and belief in themselves and achieve goals that seem out of reach.

There’s a lesson here for us PTSDers: The self can be consciously, practically, determinedly constructed. In partnership with trauma reduction therapies, we can and need to do self-directed work to design and inhabit a new, PTSD-free self. My own healing experience has instilled in me a fierce belief that the work we do on ourselves enhances and quickens the healing process.

Today then, some words of inspiration for this goal of constructing a post-trauma identity. Drawn from my extensive research on creative artists (I hold an MFA in Poetry and have lectured nationally on the topic of creativity), I offer these insightful wisdoms from some of the greatest artists in history, men and women who struggled with their own mental illnesses and social alienations to overcome doubt, insecurity and fear to achieve not only an incredible level of art, but also an intense richness of personality that supported them in anything they attempted to do.

I continue to believe that it is better to perfect oneself little by little and by one’s own efforts. ~ Camille Pisarro

At any age we grow by the enlarging of consciousness, by learning…. That implies a new way of looking at the universe. ~ May Sarton

… what I want to say is not more or less than that any man is unconscious of some peculiar great hidden force, deeply hidden in him, until sooner or later he is awakened. ~ Vincent van Gogh

Again I am compelled to state how I believe that attitude is everything. ~ Sylvia Plath

I wanted my world made in my own image, a world that would breathe my spirit. I made myself God, since there was nothing to hinder me. ~ Henry Miller

Don’t wait for it. Create a world, your world. Alone. Stand alone. Create. ~ Anais Nin

Do you have personal quotes about self-empowerment that you like? Add them below. The more we visualize who we want to be the sooner we’ll leave behind who PTSD has made us become.

(photo: The Dog’s Daddy)