I was interviewed recently by Devon Peacock of CFPL London, Ontario. This conversation got me thinking about all the different ways that trauma can affect us, including one surprisingly positive outcome, which is that trauma can lead to a deepening of our empathy and compassion.
I got upset when I read online about the protests at Ontario hospitals, in which people in the crowd were shouting slurs at the medical staff, and calling the doctors and nurses, “murderers.”
As the new Omicron variant is starting to show up in Canada and in other parts of the world, some people in Ontario are re-thinking their holiday plans. The Federal government is scrambling to create new travel restrictions, hoping to slow down the spread, and in Quebec, they’ve just posted a daily Covid-19 case count of almost 1200, following the largest one-day jump in the past seven months.
I’ve noticed that the pandemic has affected different types of people in very different ways. In particular, how after many months of social isolation, introverts and extroverts demonstrate suffering and recovery in their own unique ways.
People can shut down their emotions in order to protect themselves from their pain, but this defense mechanism has unintended consequences.
We seek resolution because we want to be okay after a relationship didn’t go the way we hoped. We feel the need to understand what happened, or to hear the other person apologize for their actions.
Recently, I read a blog about how to get back at a narcissist, and it reminded me of how many times people have asked me about how to affect a narcissist in some way. I’ve been asked how you might make a narcissist feel jealous, or weak, or frightened; how to hurt them, or how to get them to feel sorry.
Trauma is the emotional effect of terrible things that have happened to us. We can experience trauma at any time of life but when it happens early on, it has the most damaging effect on us.
You don’t need to snack: A colleague of mine asked me a question the other day. Given that winter is approaching and he anticipated gaining some weight over the colder months, he wanted my advice for losing ten pounds. I gave him a few suggestions and then he asked another question: “What do I […]
The fourth wave is tough on younger kids—and their parents: As the fourth wave of the pandemic descends this autumn on parts of Canada and the United States, parents of young children are left not knowing how to deal with their increasingly frustrated younger kids. What are they supposed to tell their six-year-olds and […]
