“History is not the past. It’s the stories we tell ourselves about the past. How we tell these stories- triumphantly or self-critically, metaphysically or dialectically- has a lot to do with whether we cut short or advance our evolution as human beings.” - Grace Lee Boggs
“Trauma without the negative charge equals wisdom” -Dr. Joe Dispenza.
The question is, how to do this? How to dilute the negative charge from a traumatic memory, so that only the experience remains, and a new story emerges containing only the wisdom.
Surely there is more than one way. All sorts of therapies have their approaches.
Cutting-edge brain research out of neuroscience and neuropsychology proposes that all methods that effectively do this are, whether they know it or not, following an essential formula by which the memory of the event, of what created a trauma response, is being targeted and overridden.
This piece about memory is key. All modern trauma-related treatments target the “memory signature” of the event, rather than the event itself. And there is, as I’m learning, a holographic, or holonomic nature to our memories. I’ll visit that more in a future post.
As I’m studying various approaches to what’s called (what Bruce Ecker, LMFT introduced as) Memory Reconsolidation- a name for a specific neuro-informed formula for rewriting the story of a traumatic memory, it occurs to me that it’s not unlike what the shamans (The original “doctors of the soul”) likely accomplish through indigenous rituals, of soul retrieval and the like. And they’ve been doing this for thousands of years, without the benefit of modern neuroscience and neurospychological understandings.
Do shamans, practitioners of ancient wisdom, brain scientists, and modern schools of psychological thought talk to each other and agree to such a formula? Not that I know of. Which leads me to think it’s a kind of Hundreth Monkey Effect in action, whereby through the collective consciousness an idea emerges and the “signal” of that idea is then perceived and adopted into action.
But that’s whole ‘nother topic! (See: Rupert Sheldrake for more on this).
As we know from what the stoic philosophers taught, it’s not what happened to us so much as the meaning we make of it that matters. The stories we tell ourselves, and specifically the beliefs we arrive at about ourselves, others, and the world (the “cognitive triad”) is what’s responsible for an event having undue shaping power over us.
A simple event from our past holds the Power to make or break us, depending on the immediate conclusions drawn, and the unfolding narrative we attach to it.
Were we victims or victors?
Did we fail or will we flourish?
We don’t have to remain victims to our circumstances. With the right support, we all have the capacity to create what we choose to create.
We often forget that, as sole owners of our life story, we have an innate capacity to rewrite it. the rewriting of a traumatic event can be quickly accomplished through approaches that incorporate the steps involved in the modern memory reconsolidation practice.
Memory reconsolidation is built around three essential steps:
1 Recalling or reactivating the event- briefly, without re-experiencing it.
2 Exploring the negative beliefs/assumptions/conclusions drawn from the event and identfying new, future present-based beliefs/assumptions/conclusions desired (i.e what you prefer to believe about yourself, others and the world).
3 Create via a symbolic “mismatch” or “corrective emotional experience” a new meaning experience that evokes these new beliefs/assumptions/conclusions.
4 Objectively describe memory while integrating the new meaning experience ( through telling the story that incorporates the new beliefs and/or using the spiritual science of the spoken word (such as through my Energy Healing approach) to decree and affirm the new beliefs/assumptions/conclusions about self, others, and the world).
5 New narrative integration- repeating and revising the story until the new desired meaning about the old memory feels true and the “charge” is diminished through the re-telling.
This specific formula (minus my Energy Healing component) is what Courtney Armstrong, MEd, LPC calls the RECON method.
If you have a disturbing memory from your past and you need help to reframe and rewrite into your Victor Story, I am available to help you via Telehealth/Video from virtually anywhere, as part of my Integrative Counseling practice.
Visit me at Therapy Outside the Box for more information, or to schedule a FREE 20 Minute Phone Consult. Or call: 615.430.2778 or email me at: chris@therapyoutsidethebox.com
Peace to You and Yours,
Chris Hancock, LCSW, ACMHP