Try on your own, with a trusted loved one or your mental hea

How you identify with the trauma that happened to you and the story you have about it is imperative on your healing journey. 

1. Try to describe your trauma in less than 120 seconds. If you do better talking, then audio record yourself on your phone, if you do better writing than write your narrative in less than 120 seconds. 
2. Now try to describe it in 60 seconds. Did it feel different? If so, how? 
3. Now change any 'I', or 'my' pronouns to it. So rather than 'I was assaulted', to 'the assault happened'. Rather than 'my trauma from childhood' to 'the experience of trauma in my childhood'. Notice the my was moved in front of childhood rather than trauma.  Did it feel different? If so, how?
4. Reflect on any changes in sensations and how difficult/easeful this was for you. 
5. Now do this exercise every day for a month and see after a month if your identification with the impact of the trauma on you starts to change. Does it start to move to the past? Does it start to feel like something that happened rather than it meaning something about you?

• For childhood trauma: I was abused, I experienced abuse, it was hard to experience abuse as a child
• For single event trauma: I was shot, I survived being shot, I've been in recovery since being shot
• For trauma to your loved one: My sister's assault changed me, the assault of my sister has changed all of our lives, It has been a long road of healing since my sister was assaulted