This week I have been reading a fable by Carolyn Springs. It’s about the scary bears we encounter in life and how humans recover from those events much better when our accounts are heard and believed in a safe place. Having a place to go with those stories and having support from others both to tend our wounds and decide what to do about the bears enables us to regain and retain a sense of safety. Not being heard or believed when we are afraid or wounded leaves us anxious about the bears, confused about our story and unable to ‘just get back out there’. It’s hard trying to survive bears on our own.
She writes about trauma recovery – but it doesn’t have to be as big as a scary bear for the same survival responses to kick in. Not being heard and believed about your real life experiences can leave us disconnected, unsure of trusting others or ourselves, and stuck being hyper alert to threats.
Give it a read
at https://www.carolynspring.com/child-sexual-abuse/trauma-and-the-bears/
If you do – and it resonates with you – I just want to add “I believe in bears“.
If you need a place to heal, talk, and be believed, then counselling could provide a place to tell that story. It could also be a place to explore how to find support from a friendly ‘tribe’. Sometimes we need that extra care to understand events that have happened and recover from being stuck, frightened of anything that reminds us of them.
You don’t have to keep avoiding or fighting bears on your own, that’s not a strategy that works well for people – help is available…
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