This week Kay Neuhausel, psychotherapist, shares some thoughts on how we continue to walk through this difficult season.
Questions for personal reflection or (preferably) discussion with someone else...
•What comes up for you when you reflect on these thoughts Kay shared: “This is not normal… We were not made to live in isolation without connection.” & “This is traumatic for everyone and it’s going to impact us in different ways.”
•Do you wish you could just “unsubscribe” from everything that is going on right now? Since we are in this and we have to do it, what choices do we have?
•What is true and good about us is true no matter what is going on around us. What do I know right now to be true and good about me no matter what?
•Every experience we have in our lives is stored in our system with four components: emotional experience, mental/cognitive experience, physical experience, and behavioral experience. Kay talks about how bilateral stimulation (activating the different hemispheres of the brain through walking, tapping your shoulders, etc.) can help move hard things through these four components and also help imprint positive things in our nervous system. If this is the first time you’ve heard about EMDR and these types of tools, what do you think about it? If it’s new or you’ve heard about it before are you willing to try it this week?
•What is the hard thing you’re having trouble believing right now? What do you hope to believe, even though it is hard? Identify these and try walking or tapping through them.
•“I don’t know what to do.” “I don’t know how to do distance learning with my kids.” “I don’t know how to get food to people who don’t have it.” “I don’t know how to get connection when that’s what I’m made for and I don’t have access right now.” There is a lot we don’t know how to do right now. When we are overwhelmed by what we don’t know how to do, we still have choice. What do you know how to do right now?
To learn more about EMDR check out Kay’s recommended super-practical resource: "Tapping In" by Parnell -- https://www.amazon.com/Tapping-Step-S...
