When we are traumatised, it is usual to believe we are damaged, broken, and even beyond repair. Ana Gomez has a lovely re-frame for this, inviting clients to know:
“There's nothing wrong with me...there are just stories that need to be integrated into my mind.”
It’s a metaphor that really does it for me. Inside us, an experience has got stuck, and we have an internal ‘story-teller’ who holds this old narrative. It is replayed again and again in the here and now, inviting healing, but often looping.
Trauma work is about getting to know the story-teller and the story, knowing that they are ours, a part of us, not something separate or outside of us.
Once we are aware of a stuckness, we can ask ourselves:
What is it conveying?
What is its story?
What keeps it separate?
What needs to be seen, felt, known?
What are the missing experiences of this part?
What deficits and excesses are there?
What would happen if you knew/felt/saw what this story-holder has to tell?
This can be challenging, emotional work, and psychotherapy is a great place to safely do it. If you have inner stories that keep popping up, or trauma symptoms you would like to resolve, get in touch.
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