June is PTSD Awareness Month.

Are you aware of this devastating condition that can sink the brightest shining star?  Living with PTSD symptoms can feel like navigating life under 10 feet of water.

Every person on the planet is capable of feeling the feelings of another person.

It’s arguable that you could say that about animals as well, but for the sake of this discussion let’s keep it to 2 leggeds.

Have you ever played the game where the group tries to guess the emotion of the acting participant?

It’s not hard usually unless the emotion is complicated, like jealousy.

But within the complexities of living life and navigating relationships, surviving and pursuing happiness, things get a little harder to read.

It can be difficult to understand your own feelings in difficult situations.

For someone with post traumatic stress syndrome feeling your own feelings can be increasingly difficult. You simply have no access to what you are feeling … good or bad.

If you can’t feel pain, you can’t feel Joy.

(If you noticed, I just used the term “post traumatic stress SYNDROME” as opposed to “post traumatic  stress DISORDER”.  The reason I want to invite you to use the word “syndrome” instead of “disorder” is because this condition is a response in your nervous system that is certainly painful to live through, but it is not a “disorder” in that you CAN heal!)

If you are living with PTSS/PTSD symptoms you will notice that you have a much harder time understanding others and communicating clearly, because you aren’t receiving your own signals. 

You become numb.

Soldiers are certainly susceptible to this crippling condition, and so are survivors of traumatic events.

It’s easy to see this type of suffering in others.  But it’s a lot harder to see it in yourself. Continue reading article →