24 Ways to Deal with Trauma

Here are 24 Ways to contribute to ending the influence in your daily life of a trauma, sudden or a gradual influence.

1. What kind of trauma? A dramatic event(s) – emotional, physical, sexual or a gradual erosion of peace of mind due to ongoing circumstances?
2. Share the facts of the trauma with a person(s) you trust and you know can listen.
3. Share your feelings, emotions, thoughts and experience of the trauma with a person (s)you trust and you know can listen.
4. Share points of view with another to find ways to take the suffering out of memory
5. Share points of view with another to change current influence of trauma.
6. Write down alternative ways of looking at the trauma with a view to understanding the dynamic.
7. Write down the most common painful emotions, which arise with memory and read them out aloud.
8. Write down some of your daily life experiences, which you appreciate. Read them out aloud.
9. Write down what you have learnt from the trauma and read out aloud what you have learnt.
10. Explore mindfulness exercises including breath, body, here and now, loving kindness.
11. Be mindful of what you watch and read, especially on social media and films (movies and documentaries).
12. Absorb that which is healthy and nourishing, via eyes and ears, and avoid that which stimulates further negative responses to a trauma.
13. Breath in and out deeply so as not to keep reliving the trauma.
14. Commit yourself to certain activities of the day,
15. Maximise mindful time outdoors and indoors.
16. Eat a nutritious diet free from strong spices, chemicals, stimulants, sugar, fat, salt as much as possible.
17. If you feel overwhelmed watching or listening to the news, take a complete break from the news/ documentaries/commentaries.
18. If no sense of recovery, through application of such ways in this list, then consider medication. It may only need to be temporary.
19. Know the situations, people and environments which can trigger a repeat or memory of the trauma.
20. Sit with upright posture. Be fully present. Breathe in and out mindfully. Be conscious of one breath after the other. Breathe deeper if you get lost in a story.
21. Move the energies of the body – long walks, dance, yoga, gardening, swimming etc
22. Play music, read a book, clean the kitchen. Give your total undivided attention to such an engagement.
23. Remember to appreciate all the moments/experience unrelated to trauma.
24. Feel the freedom of life in precious moments.