Breathe in!! Feel that Post Traumatic Growth happening.

I woke up cranky and sweet friends walked that crankiness out of my soul.

Boy, it is SO easy to become overwhelmed with life.  My brain has a quick-release switch.  When I feel stress building, I stop moving forward and spin in circles.  I'm grateful for friends who can  gently talk me out of my spins.

Isn't it interesting how our situation can be the exact same and feel so entirely different?

Yes, I can look out of the same window and see a yard full of unfinished work and a yard full of beauty.

I learned yesterday about Post Traumatic Growth Theory- PTG. We hear SO much about PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and not enough about PTG!

Www.posttraumaticgrowth.com

Post traumatic growth theory does not suggest that there is an absence of suffering as wisdom builds, but rather that appreciable growth occurs within the context of pain and loss. In fact, some measure of significant distress may be necessary for growth to occur, although too much distress may impair the bereaved and render them unable to engage in the growth process (Butler et al., 2005). Along with growth or wisdom-building, the fruits of PTG may also include a preparedness or “resilience” for future events that may otherwise be traumatic (Calhoun & Tedeschi, 2006; Meichenbaum, 2006).

Oh!!  I love this!!  I want to get my PhD in Post Traumatic Growth Theory!!

On Netflix there is a TED Talk series.  I love them.  I started very skeptical of Jane McGonigal: The Game That Can Give You 10 Extra Years of Life, but I loved what she has to say about healing.

As a result of meeting her pain head on, she began to turn a corner and reconstruct her life on terms that were much richer than she had ever known before. “As foreign as a place as I was [as a suicide survivor], there was also enormous beauty,” says Spexarth, who lives in Seattle and took frequent walks in nature to heal as well. “My senses were heightened. Walking out the door, every little thing was alive. I had never had that kind of sensitivity to my environment.” Spexarth’s experience – what she calls a “profound awakening” – is not unusual among survivors of traumatic events. The phenomenon is called “post-traumatic growth” and it’s at the opposite end of the spectrum from post-traumatic stress syndrome, which almost always precedes it, says Melinda Moore, a psychologist and assistant professor of psychology at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky. In other words, you can’t have growth without trauma.

(http://www.posttraumaticgrowth.com/how-trauma-can-help-you-grow/)

Amen!!

Oh, may I never loose this sense of gratitude!

Go for a walk today!

Wow!  Life is beautiful!