What's the worst set-back you've suffered, one that hurt you physically as well as emotionally, one that you may feel you've not quite recovered from? Could it be loss of a child or parent, a sudden and unexpected career bad turn, or you still in pain from a formidable physical attack? The list of painful conditions is long, but how is it that some people - some Holocaust survivors, for example - manage to recover, scarred and hurt, but alive?
We wanted to take a look at possible recovery mechanisms, and we thought we would go to the experts in these two excellent life books.
Convergence Healing, Healing Pain with Energetic Love, by Peter Bedard with Brian Sheffield Hunt, Enliven/ATRIA 2015
This is a challenging book because it addresses pain from a very personal perspective. Co-author Brian Sheffield Hunt at the age of 17 was nearly killed on his yellow motor scooter when it slammed into another vehicle and he was, barely conscious, thrown in to the middle of a dark road. He floated away, seeing and knowing that his body was severely damaged, although in his retelling of the experience, he felt light and peace. It didn't last - forced to return to this life by a glowing bearded man, his growing up became a mix of disappointment, surgeries, and fog and pain lots of pain. The emotional pain he felt, along with unending physical pain and discomfort, limited him.
What can come of a life that has been so severely damaged, we ask? Well, herein lies the answer - the gift of this book - because Bedard and Hunt show us through the healing of other case study characters that pain is a messenger and a fire-starter. At key points in this narrative we are presented with simple exercises to facilitate healing. For those of us who believe that many physical ailments may somehow have roots, or their beginnings, in terrible life events, these stories are persuasive and difficult. I say go with it - learn every mechanism you can to identify and release the pain, and reach for every healing, loving impulse, because, in the words of the Dismissal, "life is short and we do not have much time to gladden the hearts of those who make the journey with us. So... be swift to love, and make haste to be kind, and the blessing of God, who made us, who loves us, and who travels with us, be with you now and forever.
Note: readers will appreciate the end of book Resource list, six pages of other books, groups, and websites, some of which were unknown to me, for further help with healing. And of course we love the "Convergence Healing Cheat Sheet" - thanks guys!
Bouncing Forward, Transforming Bad Breaks into Breakthroughs, by Michael Haas, PhD, Enliven/ATRIA 2015
And now for something not entirely different.... but energetic and filled with stories and quotes from recognizable leaders like Maya Angelou, author Dr. Michaela Haas takes a slightly less (although page count is higher) introspective pain-focused approach to this most challenging subject. Herself a survivor of illness and accompanying trauma, bedridden for eight months, Dr. Haas gives us these give areas of hope, the five main areas of growth that trauma survivor experience:
1. A majority of trauma survivor report finding a new approeciation for life.
2 Relationships deepen. We find out who our true friends are, and we become more compassionate to the suffering of others.
3. A third area of change is our own strength, knowing our reiience.
4. Many people find new opportunities and meaning that they wouldn't otherwise have explored.
5. Spiritual progress and a new spirtual connection.
Fortunately her research on PTSD (post traumatic stress syndrome) is timely and uplifting. She explains the effects of PTSD, and through stories shows how post PTSD survivors coped. For instance, Rhonda Cornum was an army flight surgeon in Iraq when her helicopter was shot down. She was taken prisoner by the Iraqis, badly injured with two broken arms, and suffered greatly from her injuries and sexual assaults, for seven days during her captivity. But after her return, when questioned about her perspective on PTSD, she said that her experience of being totally helpless had helped her to understand what patients were going through, and she felt that this made her a better doctor. Haas calls this "a stunning example of post-traumatic growth" for which proven methods had been developed to consciously and deliberately help survivors move forward. Dr. Cornum's milestone was the creation of a comprehensive program to teach resilience to every soldier in the US Army before deployment.
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