Joy has come to live with me. How can I be sad? Happy people tend to have an elevated level of status in the community because they display a picture of mental health. Also, when you are able to brush off negative energy, or not let it ruin your day, even if you have a stern personality, it elevates your status in the social environment. Those who like to hurt others and bully, even if they do not realize it are annoying and looked down upon. After a traumatic event, many individuals experience distress and symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This distress may be highest when dealing with memories, thoughts, feelings, and situations that are related to the trauma. Exposure therapy is a type of treatment that helps one decrease distress about their trauma. This treatment works by helping one approach trauma related thoughts, feelings, and situations that one has been trying to avoid due to the distress that they case. Repeated exposure to these thoughts, feelings, and situations helps reduce the power they have to cause distress.  

It has been proven that strong emotions can block pain. And that is why sometimes when people are weak and not feeling well, if you upset them, the rage in their bodies will overcome the pain and suddenly they become strong. This also suggests that for many traumatized people, reexposure to stress might provide a similar relief from anxiety. It is kind of like exposure therapy, people may try to hurt you over and over by exposing you to painful memories, like reminding you of a death of a loved one, or making fun of your energies, but after they do it so much you build up a resistance to the stimuli and overcome it, so they lose their control over you. It is the body’s natural way of protecting itself. Kind of like when people insult you frequently or act strange around you, eventually you build up a resistance and ignore it because the body takes sudden and drastic measure to solve an intractable problem.

In order to benefit from prolonged exposure, it is helpful to learn about the common reactions to PTSD. Education allows you to learn more about your symptoms and understand the goals of treatment. It really helps a person to understand why they feel nervous or uneasy, and learn not to run from problems when there is no real threat. Also, one must learn to control their breathing, often times when we become upset we have breathing problems, but must take deep breathes in, through our nose, hold them for a few seconds and release them through our mouth, until are muscles are relaxed. Also, real World practice is helpful. Practice approaching situations that are safe, but which you have been avoiding because they are related to the trauma. An example might be someone who avoids driving because they were in a bad accident. It is suggested to drive when there is less traffic on the road, until you become comfortable again.   

In the same way, people wonder why some are celibate. Some do this to protect their bodies, others become they are a sexual trauma survivor and they may avoid getting close to others. So they may start off by just being in close proximity to others, and until they meet someone they vibe with and feel that they can trust. Sometimes talking about trauma over and over with a therapist is called imaginal exposure. Imaginal exposure will usually help one gets more control of their thoughts and feelings of the trauma. Over time, an individual will learn that they do not have to be afraid of their memories. It may be hard at first and it might seem unusual to think about stressful things on purpose. The ideal is to help one make sense of what happened and have fewer negative thoughts about. For instance, people may make fun of you for getting injured and losing a lot of blood and make jokes about you have a period, when it was actually from a traumatic injure. The more you hear it, the more you let go, and you make even make jokes about it to remove the stigma and let them know they are not bothering you. It also shows them how ignorant they are.   

The amygdala is a cluster of brain cells that determines whether a sound, image, or body sensation is perceived as a threat. The higher one’s serotonin levels are, the less likely you are to feel fear, which will make you less likely to become aggressive or frozen in response to potential threats. So if you are suffering from trauma, it is important to do healthy things that please you like smelling the roses, getting exercise, or listening to soft music. This will stimulate the serotonin levels in your brain, naturally, and make you feel more at ease without medication. And that is why some people find walks in the park so pleasant. The social environment interacts with brain chemistry and just being around other people and making eye contact with them has been proven to increase serotonin levels. However, when people are manipulated into a lower position in the dominance hierarchy, it makes their serotonin levels drop. In contrast, chemically enhancing serotonin levels has been shown to elevate the rank of former subordinates.  I am at peace and rest in the knowledge of love and the divine.