Inside Bell's Brain

  A friend once gave me a little excerpt from a book that talked about the limitations of others. I think its message makes a good preface here. The idea was to the effect that there are people in our lives who wrong us, even those who almost near destroy us. They deny us of the love we so desperately need for one reason or another. But the point hinges on our moving forward in forgiveness and letting go because they likely loved you as much as they could. Perhaps they didn’t intentionally hurt you (perhaps they did) but they likely loved you to the extent it was possible for them to love another person. Holes and emptiness in them somehow made it impossible for them to love in a less than selfish or even narcissistic way. I accept that and have certainly seen that play out in my life on many an occasion.   But even though there is abundant truth in that, I want to reflect on something else I’ve experienced in my life.    Sometimes a parent can be “physically present...

I've been in quite a state lately.  I am from time to time, to be honest, but what folks don't seem to understand is that it's not my choosing.  I try desperately hard to control my thoughts, to manifest peace and God's glory in my struggle, yet sometimes this season or this diagnosis seems to be the thorn in my flesh.  The battle to which God says, "My grace is sufficient"... because here I am still struggling.  Still fighting.  And though there have been improvements, the burden hasn't completely been lifted from me.  You see, I've learned of some people who've said some REALLY hurtful things about me behind my back.  And if we're honest here?  The childhood rhyme is bogus because sticks and stones DO break your bones AND words strike unimaginable pain in the heart of a compassionate soul.  Someone trying to be a Jesus girl.  People chattering is nothing new though. But the pain of learning they have chattered about you - or in part...

I think people are well-meaning. At least I would like to think that. And with the statistics about mental health in 2020, you would really think more people would be educated and informed about how to be sensitive during mental, emotional, spiritual crises. Yet I find that most people who’ve not experienced these traumas first hand are inept at helping those of us in the throes of despair.  That’s why I think people mean well, but just don’t know what to do. Most people don’t say to themselves, “I wonder what I could say to him/her that could be the final straw?  What will really make him/her finally pull the trigger?  What will make this person compound guilt upon guilt until they’re buried in shame and cannot recover?” That’s not to say that, unfortunately, there aren’t people who really try to rub it in. That breaks my heart, but it’s not my point.  I think most people want to do better. They just don’t know how. So I compiled a list of things that either helped ...

I mentioned in a previous post (or at least think I did, lol) about how I participated in a book study on trauma this year for my professional development. (I know I at least recommended the book on my post about surviving mental illness . Here’s a link to purchase the book if you’re interested; I highly recommend it!) Each chapter, we were asked to dig a little deeper into some of the content and answer some questions related to the topics in that chapter. My response to the first assignment is the one I’m including in this post because 1) I think it’s a worthy post, 2) I think it’s essential to continuously reflect on your “why”, and 3) I plan to talk a LOT more about trauma on the blog as I learn more and more... both as a professional and as a regular ol’ human. Our discussion leader posed the following question:  Week 1: What is your WHY?  Why do you think it is important to learn about trauma in our schools? I’ve been thinking A LOT about this q...