Dr. Paul Conti

We bring it to the surface and then we can take away its power.

We so often try and change the trauma of the past in order to control the future.

And what that really adds up to is the trauma of the past dominates our present.

And then we're not really living in the present, right, as we're trying to control the future.

We're not going to do a great job of controlling our future if we're not really living

in the present.

And so the way to come at that, again, in the moment, if we're saying, okay, in the moment, if I need to fall asleep, right?

I might say, okay, let me try and put that out of my mind.

Let me try and thought redirect.

So there's short-term strategies that can let us be functional in the context of these changes.

But the answer is to go look directly at that thing.

Look at that trauma, explore that trauma.

And sure, that can be done with a professional.

And sometimes that's what makes sense.

But not always, right?

Sometimes it can be done by talking to another person, right?

Writing it down, right?

Looking at what's going on inside of me that my mind is so stuck to this.

Let's explore that.

We're so afraid so often of looking at the trauma that has changed us.