“Trauma is a fact of life. It does not, however, have to be a life sentence.
The effects of unresolved trauma can be devastating. It can affect our habits and outlook on life, leading to addictions and poor decision-making. It can take a toll on our family life and interpersonal relationships. It can trigger real physical pain, symptoms, and disease. And it can lead to a range of self-destructive behaviors.” ~ Peter A. Levine
A Thought on The Evil Around Us…
I was especially struck by the news conference on Monday with the Mayor, Governor, and Police Chief regarding the senseless killings by a disgruntled bank employee in Louisville, KY.
Tragic, heartbreaking, and of course, senseless.
We cannot make sense of Evil.
Two weeks earlier, a similar but even more tragic news conference in Nashville where an angry, mentally ill, transvestite marched into Covenant Church, entered the grade school, and then killed three 9-year-old children and 3 teachers. My heart aches at the senseless loss of life.
The Democrats rush to proclaim it another act of gun violence. Republicans call it for what it is, another insane evil act—clearly another psychotic outbreak of mental sickness—as all these killings are. They too have no plausible solutions.
Regardless of your point of view, the pain remains in the face of these despicable acts of cowardice.
Another community was shocked to the core… traumatized… and grief-stricken.
Anger will yield to bargaining and ultimately, we all feel the effects of denial and depression.
Again.
My prayer is that Evil will be vanquished and that there will be peace in our hearts.
But my expectation is that this insanity will continue, and we will be left to respond.
But this is a good time to respond differently.
Of course, we must move from shock to trauma to grief… but we must not permit ourselves to remain grief-stricken until our next loss compounds the problem.
We must become Grace-stricken and not just accept the loss, but Accept Responsibility for quickly building an archway of Grace over our cascading river of tears.
I know how the people in Louisville, Nashville, and a hundred other cities feel.
I felt the searing pain of loss from death when I lost my precious Jan to a murderer named Brain Cancer. She was taken from me as surely as the insane gunman took the lives of those innocent victims. Men, women, and children — senselessly dead — with their families, friends, and community left behind to mourn their loss.
I also found the healing power of Grace—both my salvation and strategy for finding life after grief.
The unmerited Grace of God gives me hope for salvation.
The practical strategy of Grace—Gratitude, Resilience, Authenticity, Creativity, and Empathy—provides hope for a quick passage from the pain and trauma of loss…
To happily remember—indeed, cherish—the time when I loved, and now, as I venture forward, to love and be loved again.
If you find yourself with someone in deep mourning and grief, share your love with them. Then share these healing stones of Grace…
The first step to healing is to be GRATEFUL for all you have been given… not for all you have lost.
The next is to become just a bit more RESILIENT each day… to find the strength to just move a bit more today than yesterday.
The hard one for me was to face the mirror, and see who you are—AUTHENTICALLY.
Which requires you to become just a little more CREATIVE to start working on who you will become following the loss.
And in the end, our EMPATHY for others, and ourselves, complete the arch of Grace over the chasm of grief.
If you want your memorial to matter, make it last forever—pick up a rock and scratch GRACE on it. Make it the foundation for your bridge across those troubled waters.
Since time immemorial we have faced Evil and the sorrow of mourning our losses.
I invite you to share GRACE instead of just sharing your grief.
God Bless,
Eric Richard Haas, Author
Take that first step across your river of tears with Grace
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