Third of a Lifetime

Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.

Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.

Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)

Photo Credit

@AnnTran_ “Your current safe boundaries
were once unknown frontiers.” ~ Unknown

Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder

@sgbrownlow “When therapy helps people feel better without coping or choosing better, it has helped them avoid instead of grow.”

@CarePathways “It doesn’t matter how many people are on your side, cheering you on. If you can’t get on your own side, you never get past ‘go.’”

@Good_Therapy “Nurture your minds with great thoughts. To believe in the heroic makes heroes.” ~ Benjamin Disraeli

@visityourself “Just because you have a thought doesn’t mean it’s true. Hint: hateful beliefs about yourself = not true.”

@LillyAnn “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” ~ Aristotle

@soulseedz “The word ‘intimacy’ sounds like ‘into me I see’. Relationships are mirrors of your inner world.”

Linked Tweets

In the News

@WikiaNews Awesome resource on @Wikia: Suicide Prevention Wiki — worldwide directory of hotlines, text-lines, and more
[SEO: Bookmark this site. You never know when you'll meet someone online who is despondent and needs resources asap. It could even be you.]

@SarahEOlson2009 PTSD Awareness Day Monday, June 27th — National Center for PTSD
[SEO: Site contains resources for spreading PTSD awareness, as well as links to find help for yourself or a family member. All of these resources are available for anyone with PTSD, whether a veteran or not.]

@psychcentral America’s Mental Health: Budget Cuts, Poor Training and Stephanie Moulton
[SEO: An important post details how state budget cuts for mental health resources are creating situations which put the lowest paid and least trained mental health workers in danger. Stephanie Moulton was one such worker who was murdered by a group home member with schizophrenia who had gone off his meds -- and the staff knew he had a history of violence. Ms. Moulton, a group home aide, was paid between $12-14/hour, and given only one week of training.

"Have we gone too far with cutting the budgets of mental health services to the poor and in-need? While the answer may be obvious to some of us, what is less obvious is how we stop such cuts from occurring during rough economic times. And if we can’t, how we can at least ensure patients like Chappell don’t fall through the cracks of the system — a slip that resulted in a young woman’s death."]

The Rest of the Best

@Soc4ArtinHealth Read how drawing can help children who have had traumatic experiences
[SEO: An excellent post that directly connects drawing with implicit memory, and why that is crucial for a child's recovery from traumatic events. "As a researcher and helping professional, I continue to be intrigued by just how drawing 'helps' bring about recovery, whether through decrease of worry or fear or reduction of more complex acute trauma and post-traumatic stress reactions. But of equal importance, giving traumatized children the opportunity to express through images what is often impossible to say with words underscores my responsibility to bear witness to their very human suffering, honoring those voices that might otherwise have remained silenced."

For those who remained silenced for far too long, into adulthood, art therapy shows similar benefits. See also (linked in the above post), Resilience Matters in Traumatized Children's Lives -- and Sensory Activities Make the Difference.]

@Mindful_Living The Joy Of Play
[SEO: "The point is make it time just for you, a time of intentional play that you normally would not give yourself permission to do. Don't negotiate with your mind that's telling you there's no time, just plan it and do it." I have that negotiation with my mind a lot these days. Play has never been my strong suit, which I attribute to childhood crap, which gives me impetus to try to restore this missing piece. Still, as an adult, it's difficult. See more on linking mindfulness with play in the next post below.]

@Mindful_Living PLAY NOW: How to Bring Mindfulness into Your Life
[SEO: "Play deprivation doesn’t just apply to kids, but to all of us. We can easily fall into a state of being overly strict with ourselves and taking life too seriously. To bring mindfulness into our lives and cultivate a healthy, flexible and resilient mind, we need to loosen up on ourselves, allowing openings to arise, and then like cultivating a garden add in nutrients that facilitate the kind of change we’d like to see. You can think of play as a fundamental way of bringing mindfulness into your life creating spaces for your healthier mind to take root."

The post then discusses in depth six components of bringing mindfulness into your life: play, love, acceptance, yoga, non-judgment, openness, and welcome, which can be remembered by the acronym "PLAYNOW". "There’s nothing mysterious about applying PLAY NOW into your life. It’s very practical. In the same way that you can learn, practice and repeat how to read and over time it becomes automatic, the experience of cultivating this playfulness can create a natural sense of flexibility, resiliency and a healthy mind."]

@heykim Find Your Calling: 5 Steps to Identify Your Purpose
[SEO: Five steps to identify that which brings meaning and purpose into your life. "We each have hundreds of callings in our lives, some big and some small. Rather than one 'life purpose' or mission, we actually have many opportunities to experience aspects of what brings us alive. The degree to which we listen to and act on our callings determines how fulfilled we are with our lives."

@JeffreyGuterman An On-Off Switch for Memory?
[SEO: "For the first time, scientists have recreated the brain's learning process and can restore long-forgotten memories." The focus is on memory recovery in dementia, stroke, or brain injury patients, but the potential to eventually apply something like this to other trauma survivors for whom memory loss is devastating seems quite high.]

@psychcentral What if it’s Already All Inside You? Perfect Imperfection and the Art of Letting Go
[SEO: "Are there parts of you that you hold really tight, too anxious to let them uncurl? Maybe there’s some fear of judgment. Or fear of failure. Or feelings of self-consciousness. Or worries about success. Are there times you might sort of ‘get in the way of yourself’ – trip yourself up – stop yourself just being as you are? Perhaps times when the inner critic gets to decide whether you’re 'good enough' to show yourself to the world (or not). What might it be like to stop gripping so tight for a moment, and let go just enough to let a small part be released?

"Which part comes to mind for you? Which part might be aching for that right now? Which part might want to come out of hiding if it knew the coast was clear?"]

@DrKathleenYoung “So now is the time, this time of confusion and brokenness and fear and sadness, to get up on that fear,…”
[SEO: A brief, inspirational piece on the theme that we are/were "never not broken", which opens the way for each of us to be unlimited.]

@tinybuddha 6 Ways to Deal with “I Should Be Better” Syndrome
[SEO: This post is just excellent. I need to engrave it on my brain. “The word ‘should’ is not exactly enlightened or peaceful. Nor is the practice of judging yourself or believing that you’re not exactly where you’re meant to be. But we’re human so our thoughts inevitably go there from time to time. We judge ourselves. We hold ourselves to standards that someone else made up — standards that may not even make sense for our current life.”

Favorite TweetStuff is a weekly Friday compilation of items in my Tweet stream that are funny, beautiful, whimsical, inspiring, or just odd. You never know what the week will bring! Enjoy!

@heykim 。☼。*。☆。Happy 。 ★。＼｜／。★ —* FIRST * — ☼ 。* * 。☆ 。 *Day * 。 ☼ of 。／*☼ SUMMER ☼＼Tweeps! ~ 。 ★ 。☆。*。 ☆

@9swords 100+ Creative Examples of Reflections in Photography
[SEO: Awesome pics of reflections captured off of unusual things, like water drops, as well as more typical reflections off bodies of water, or glass buildings. Beautiful work!]

@Quotes4Writers “Write about what you’re most afraid of.” ~ Donald Barthelme

@SarahEOlson2009 Karate Cat (YouTube)
[SEO: This made me actually laugh out loud at a time I really needed a good laugh.]

@docmarion “The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.” ~ Machiavelli

@heykim • Unfreakingbelievable Watermelon Carvings
[SEO: Watermelons turned into a true art form. I especially like the roses. And the robot!]

@Quotes2U “I don’t have to attend every argument I’m invited to.” ~ Unknown

@AmazingPics Beautiful Milky Way Photography
[SEO: They're right, you cannot see this from big cities. Just gorgeous!]

@AncientProverbs “Give advice; if people don’t listen, let adversity teach them.” ~ Ethiopian Proverb

@paulvharris “Everything you want in life is right outside your comfort zone.”

Special Request: If you find value in this blog showcase, please add the Dissociation Blog Showcase link to your blogroll so others can find it. Thanks!

We have amazing writers amongst us who give insight and hope to anyone struggling with dissociation, or to their loved ones. It’s a brain trust, and I treasure it. When I find new blogs, I usually update the Dissociation Blog Showcase (DBS) on Sunday evenings. Due to illness, I’m updating this tonight (Monday!), and have added the following new blog:

The Jonathan Alter Story

Please use the DBS link above to access this blog, and check out the entire directory of (approximately) ~180 dissociation-related blogs! As always, be careful and stay safe. Many of these blogs do not provide trigger warnings, nor are they obligated to do so.

Still on the way: I’ve received requests for inclusion of some DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) information and awareness sites, which are not “blogs” per se. I’m still planning to add a new section for these types of sites to the index, so please let me know if you have any favorites. (The two sites currently in the queue are DID World Map and DIDiva.com.) Thanks!

If you, or someone you know, experiences dissociation and blog about it, write to me with the URL at sarah.e.olsonATgmailDOTcom . I review each blog before adding it to the Showcase.

Thanks so much for the feedback and well-wishes for this project!

Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.

Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.

Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)

Photo Credit

@ShareAwakening “To grow, you must be willing to let
your present and future be totally unlike your past.
Your history is not your destiny.” ♥ ~ Alan Cohen

Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder

@LillyAnn “When you are your authentic self, there is never any competition.”

@zebraspolkadots “As long as I was looking for my solutions outside of myself I was overlooking the solutions within myself.”

@healingtrauma “The break-through moments are unimaginable until they happen.” ~ Brian Schwimme

@wishprayhope “Love the moment, and the energy of that moment will spread beyond all boundaries.” ~ Corita Kent

@soulseedz “Gratitude beams light on blessings that were there all along, like a flashlight in a darkened room.”

@805Therapy “Today’s Tip: (Say this and repeat throughout your day) ‘When I believe in myself, so do others.’”

Linked Tweets

Good to Know

@NAMIMass Know the lifeline 1-800-273-8255 or @800273TALK 24/7 when you or someone you know needs help
[SEO: This can never be published too often. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides many resources for both you or for someone you know. Get familiar with them now, so you'll be able to help if that someone needs it. If you are that someone, point the people in your life who care about you to this link.]

@ssanquist Dr. Deb: 10 + 1 Tips for Being Medication Smart (via @Deborahserani)
[SEO: Good basic information, and see also discussion in the comments about the ins and outs of taking generics.]

The Rest of the Best

@TherapyTales The combined genius(essness) of @DrKathleenYoung and @TherapyTales
[SEO: An excellent post by Dr. Kathleen Young titled "Talking vs. Processing in Trauma Therapy", which was inspired by a @TherapyTales cartoon, and a @zebraspolkadots tweet, both of which are included. Anyone who is dealing with trauma in therapy needs to read this.]

@FaithLotus Having a Therapist that “Gets You”
[SEO: This post is a snapshot of the potential a truly great trauma therapist brings to the table. It resonated strongly for me about my own therapist. Faith describes the way her therapist is the one person who, no matter what, "gets her" (meaning: deeply listens and understands, and routinely reflects that understanding back to her). "I can 'hear' his 'voice' when I am in a bad place, so I don’t need the physical proximity to get the therapy. I know exactly what he will say -- He will tell me how great I am doing while I look at him like he has two heads. He will challenge all of my negativity about myself and point out how far I have come. He will call me a walking miracle. He will never validate my fears of being certifiably 'crazy.'" It takes time and persistence to find someone of this calibre, but it can make all the difference in your recovery.]

@psychcentral Perfectionism is a Destiny of Dissatisfaction
[SEO: "The tragedy of perfectionism is that a comparison of what is with what could be is a foregone conclusion. To repeat, the ideal, the fictional, the imaginary is always better than the real, the factual, the existent. Thus, perfectionism is a destiny of dissatisfaction." Lots to think about here.]

@LillyAnn Your light is seen, your heart is known, your soul is cherished…
[SEO: A brief inspirational "Wisdom Bit" that goes straight to the heart of so many people's fears and insecurities... and why you are doing better than fine, today.]

@myptsd 5 Things To Progress PTSD Treatment (video)
[SEO: A 3 minute video by Michele Rosenthal, founder of healmyPTSD.com, outlining the five major steps to take to ensure progress in healing from PTSD. Be sure to check out the many resources at Heal My PTSD, too.]

@Mindful_Living How Do We Get in Our Own Way: Emerson and Mandela
[SEO: "Whether it’s an evolutionary automatic negativity bias or a developmentally constructed belief system from wounding as a child or both, the fact is, many of us are afraid of our own light. Something in us heavily guards against it saying, 'I can’t do that,' or 'I’m no good at this,' or 'That’s not important. And then the shadow is created." Post presents a three-step practice exercise that "...is simply inclining the mind toward stepping out of the shadow and into the light."]

@healthyplace Normalizing Dissociation: Dissociative Amnesia
[SEO: "Clarifying the distinction between relatively normal dissociation and relatively abnormal dissociation is important for a number of reasons, including: 1) understanding what Dissociative Identity Disorder is becomes easier when you can clearly identify what it is not, 2) describing symptoms like dissociative amnesia to others is less of a challenge when you start from a place they can relate to, and 3) those of us with DID could do with regular reminders that we aren’t aberrant life forms and, in fact, a good portion of our dissociative experiences aren’t as far-fetched to other people as we may believe."]

@DrAliceBoyes Strategy for Feeling Instantly Calmer (via @DrKathleenYoung)
[SEO: "You can use this strategy when you’re feeling anxious, tense, and/or overly sped up, or like your thoughts and feelings are racing." Dr Boyes describes in detail an exercise in breathing and focus. See also the link at the end of the post which goes to a one-page PDF diagram titled Self-defeating Behavior Flow Chart, which is well worth looking at.]

@Belleruth How to get rid of recurring traumatic nightmares
[SEO: It's interesting that I came upon this tweet, as I recently ordered (but haven't yet received) one of Belleruth's audio CDs "Guided Meditation for Healing Trauma (PTSD)" to review here on the blog. This post is her account of a stepped process called Nightmare Reprocessing, a protocol developed by two psychologists at the Louis Stokes Cleveland V.A. Medical Center. "From all indications, when this method is followed, trauma survivors can rid themselves of a repeating nightmare in three weeks or less."

She writes of her experience using the process with an 84 year old veteran with a 60 year delayed onset of PTSD, and how it worked. But keep in mind that this protocol should be viable for anyone experiencing any kind of recurring traumatic nightmares from any source. The potential here sounds promising.]

@StarrLitLove Be fearless
[SEO: Inspiring, and hope-filled. Never give up.]

Every Friday I rescue the beautiful, inspiring, funny, or extremely odd items from my Tweet stream before they scroll off into oblivion. Lots of links today! Enjoy!
 

@Splinteredones Amazingly detailed shot of a breaking wave is today’s wall paper Wednesday pick (via @NatGeoSociety)

@dvogel7921 “It takes half your life before you discover life is a do-it-yourself project.” ~ Napoleon Hill

@AmazingPics First Image from the VLT Survey Telescope (via @physorg_com)
[SEO: It's really crowded out there! Just in time for 'Falling Skies'! ]

@Kurt_Vonnegut “The most daring thing to do with your life is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.”

@pourmecoffee I, for one, welcome our new sausage breakfast making overlords. (video)
[SEO: Oh, to have a robot that makes IHOP pancakes at home!]

@Sports_Greats “I always prefer to believe in the best of everybody — it saves so much trouble.” ~ Rudyard Kipling

@zbleumoon ☼ 仝 ♒ Photos ~ Ten Best U.S. Beaches of 2011

@PamalaEnglert “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort but where he stands at times of conflict and controversy.” ~ MLK

@heykim •Beautiful! 8 Weirdest Dog Breeds Ever
[SEO: Yep.]

@larryczerwonka “It’s how you deal with failure that determines how you achieve success.” ~ David Feherty

@counsellorjack “Life is hard; it’s harder if you’re stupid.” ~ John Wayne

@DJ_Moderne Phantom of the Opera canoe dancing! Watch from 2:30 (YouTube)
[SEO: I had no idea.]

@heykim •Sun uncorks a massive solar blast
[SEO: Scroll down for the video. This flare was huge!]

@inhabitat Wind Powered Yacht Doubles as a Plane
[SEO: I suppose somebody had to do it.]

@piersmorgan This just might be the single most inspiring photograph of the year: Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.

Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.

Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! There’s also the very new Google +1 button up there at the top. I’m not sure what happens if you press it. (Plus one added to … what? But I digress.) Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks!)

Photo Credit: My sweet hubby!

@LillyAnn “Graceful synchronicities abound
when one loves without boundaries.”

Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder

@Tamavista “Adversity introduces you to yourself.” ~ Kitamori

@SpiritualNurse “Stress is two forces moving in opposite directions. Sit still.” ~ Buddhist proverb

@CausesEffects “Silence is full of music.” ~ Marcel Marceau

@MindfulReminder “Do not look back in anger, or forward in fear, but around in awareness.” ~ James Thurber

@kevinpmiller “Only the good doubt their own goodness, which is what makes them good in the first place.” ~ Paul Auster

@LillyAnn “A soul connection not only inspires us to expand, but also forces us to confront whatever stands in the way of that expansion.” ~ JW

Linked Tweets

In the News

@NOVAcounseling Study: PTSD Can Be Mistaken for ADHD
[SEO: "New research has shown that children’s risk for learning and behavior problems and obesity rises in correlation to their level of trauma exposure.... The findings could encourage physicians to consider diagnosing post-traumatic stress disorder rather than attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, which has similar symptoms to PTSD but very different treatment." The money quote: "'As simple as it may seem, physicians do not ask about trauma,' he said. 'And kids get the wrong diagnoses.'"

Well, there you have it. Doctors: Please hear me. While getting the diagnosis right is very important, asking the right questions about trauma -- and not just of the parents -- could save a child's life. If a diagnosis of PTSD is warranted, you must ascertain if the trauma is ongoing, or was inflicted by caretakers. Nothing less is acceptable.]

@psychoBOBlogy The Disappearing ‘Disorder’: Why PTSD is becoming PTS
[SEO: While I'm appreciative of what the military is (slowly) doing about PTSD amongst its vets, this article on Time.com, and the quotes within, do little more than perpetuate the stigma of mental illness. If you want to drop the term "disorder" from PTSD, then get a new classification in the DSM-V for it. Don't do this:

"Last month, the Army's No. 2 officer and top mental-health advocate, General Peter Chiarelli, used PTS repeatedly before opening up about the change. 'I drop the D,' he said. 'That word is a dirty word.' Chiarelli said the use of 'PTSD' suggests the ailment is 'pre-existing,' when in reality it is a predictable reaction to combat stress. 'I believe it's post-traumatic stress -- I really believe it's probably closer to shell shock,' he said."

When the Army's "top mental health advocate" states that "'disorder' is a dirty word", is this his idea of reducing stigma? Does anyone think the rank and file don't get that message, loud and clear? He needs to go. Now. And the Army needs to promote someone who will act as a true mental health advocate on behalf of our military, which is needed now more than ever.]

@SocialTimes Facebook Enables Facial Recognition For Millions — Here’s How To Turn It Off
[SEO: If you come from an abuse, stalking, or domestic violence background, and your safety is at issue, you need to look into this. (I think it's just creepy regardless of background.)]

The Rest of the Best

@psychcentral When the going gets tough, sometimes reaching inwards instead of outwards is the key to self-healing
[SEO: "Do we reach out towards ourselves when tough times come, offering reassurance, guidance, wisdom, compassion? Or do we lash out or shut down in anger, judgment, resentment, disappointment and ultimately self-abandonment?" A great post discussing why it's hard to take the advice or compassion we would offer a friend in need, and give it to ourselves -- and why it's valuable to work on this.]

@goodthingz 10 Ways to Have a Zen Like Day
[SEO: "Eknath Easwaran is a spiritual teacher whose method is a practical approach that fits naturally into any faith, philosophy, or lifestyle, enabling us to bring universal ideals into daily life. He talks about slowing down, taking time for the important things, and living in the present."]

@SarahEOlson2009 Mindsight: Three Therapeutic Ways to Look Within (and Find Yourself)
[SEO: "For not only is the mind 'what the brain does' (Hanson 2009), the mind actually shapes what the brain becomes, on a physical, synaptic level. So ultimately it shapes who you become. It’s all pretty interconnected… So how can you get to know this intricate system of you a little better? And how might you help nurture it towards a richer sense of mental health and aliveness?" A detailed look at openness, objectivity, and observation.]

@BrainworksRehab 6 Benefits of Practicing Mindfulness Outside of Meditation
[SEO: Excellent, detailed post about the differences between meditation and mindfulness, and steps to take to cultivate mindfulness in every day actions.]

@thecurelist Using The Breath To Experience Meditation
[SEO: How to cultivate the knowledge of your own breathing mindfully, to experience meditation. "Starting slowly with breathing, one can eventually learn to turn walking, eating, even drinking coffee or bathing, into acts of meditation. The aim is to maintain a steady mind unfazed by peripheral distractions."]

@psychcentral Stuff, Starve or Savor? Your Relationship to Food (and Life)
[SEO: This post isn't about eating disorders per se. It examines a theory that how you do one thing is how you do all things. "The idea is that maybe there are clues to be found in just about all the patterns and habits you form. That how you eat or dress or drive or spend your money (or don’t) might reveal something much bigger about your approach to life. What would you make of that if it were true? What might it tell you about yourself? (And would you want to do anything about it?)"]

@SarahEOlson2009 My Therapist Won’t Stop Yawning in Session
[SEO: Sometimes, a yawn is just a yawn. I know it's hard to not take your therapist's body language personally, especially something like yawning while in the middle of your deepest, most vulnerable moments. Or even when you're just describing your day. This post gets into theories of why people yawn, and states that the findings are inconclusive. When applied to your therapist's yawning, there are practical tips on how to handle it, which depends greatly on the situation, the time of the appointment, and how and whether your therapist is handling their own stress levels.

"If [changing the appointment time] doesn’t seem to impact the amount they yawn, consider talking to the therapist directly about this behavior. While it may seem petty to some, or not really relevant to the reason a person is in therapy, it can negatively impact the therapeutic relationship in subtle (and not so subtle) ways. It’s best to bring it out into the open and talk about it.”]

Hurray, it’s Friday! Each week I rescue items in my tweet stream that are funny, inspiring, odd, or beautiful, and offer them to help lighten the load a bit. Enjoy!

@pourmecoffee “There’s a Mr. Yoda for you, LeBron. Something about doing or doing not.”

@MrKillerTruth “Twitter makes you love people you’ve never met; Facebook makes you hate people you’ve known your whole life. Myspace makes you…nevermind.”

@Splinteredones National Geographic analyzes the video of a mama cat hugging its kitten
[SEO: Cute and informative! ]

@LillyAnn “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” ~ Carl Sagan ☼｡◦°✰

@TheBloggess “The music in your shrink’s waiting room shouldn’t make you want to kill yourself.”

@Rep_Giffords Team Giffords: We agree with Bono — Gabrielle & Mark are heroes. (YouTube)
[SEO: Shuttle Commander Mark Kelly drops into a U2 concert in Seattle -- from the International Space Station -- and sends along a message to his wife, recovering Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.]

@ArleneTaveroff “Everybody needs a hug. It changes your metabolism.” ~ Leo Buscaglia

@Quotes4Writers “The trouble with real life is that there is no danger music.” (from movie ‘The Cable Guy’)

@wordrunner “Some people delight in clipping wings because they themselves cannot fly.” ~ Robert A Heinlein

@pourmecoffee NASA annotates its awesome tour of earth from above (video)
[SEO: I am fascinated by all things space!]

@2morrowknight “Spread joy. Chase your wildest dreams.” ~ Patch Adams

@larryczerwonka “One thing you can’t recycle is wasted time.” ~ Harold V. Melchert

Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.

Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.

Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)

Photo Credit: My sweet hubby!

@DrMelanieG “To be interested in the changing seasons
is a happier state of mind than to be
hopelessly in love with spring.” ~ George Santayana

Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder

@Tamavista “Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” ~ Buddha

@zebraspolkadots “When I feed my passion instead of fueling my pain is when I begin to live in my purpose.” ~ zebdot

@CecilyMacArthur “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” ~ Carl Gustav Jung

@DanielKFoisy “Consciousness is such a mutation, it brings so much light into your being that darkness simply disappears.” ~ Osho

@karenkmmonroy “Reflection is spirit’s way of non-judgmental evaluation. It’s easy for the ego to turn reflection into deception with judgment. just say no.”

@LillyAnn “Be still, and sit within your heart. Courage will erase fear. Love will replace rage. The truth will come.”

Linked Tweets

@NAMIMass American Red Cross App Puts Emergency Care Instruction In The Palm Of Your Hand!
[SEO: We seem to be reeling from one disaster to the next, worldwide. If you could have free, potentially life-saving information on your phone, why wouldn't you? "The 'S.O.S by the American Red Cross' app is a free app that provides real-time emergency care instructions and an expansive resource guide for emergency care information in order to help save lives. The app is available only for Android mobile devices."]

@SarahEOlson2009 Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse: May theme: Self Care (via Kate1975′s Blog)
[SEO: Lots of great contributions on the theme of Self Care, as well as the usual categories: Advocacy and Awareness; Healing and Therapy; Art Therapy; Poetry; and Survivor Stories.]

@GlynisSherwood Dealing with Grief and Loss on Memorial Day? Break through the Myths of Grief Recovery (via @DrKathleenYoung)
[SEO: This links to an index of recent posts on the Recovery Matters Blog, which detail the myths of grief recovery. The most recent post is Myth of Grief Recovery #6 - Be Strong For Others. People working on trauma healing have much to grieve, but are often conditioned, in some cases since early childhood, to put others' needs ahead of their own; to be strong for others, even when it seems no one is being strong for them. This post discusses why that does a disservice to all involved. Be sure to check the preceding five posts with Myths of Grief Recovery #1-5.]

@micheletrauma Your Life After Trauma — How to beat depression
[SEO: Archive of "Your Life After Trauma" radio broadcasts, which you can listen to online at any time. Topics listed for May 2011: "How to Beat Depression" with guests Cliff Richey and Denita Stevens; "What is PTSD and Can it Be Overcome?" with guests Dr. Laurence Miller and Sgt. Leo Dunson; and "How Trauma Affects the Brain" with guests Dr. Rachel Yehuda and Dr. Dave Ziegler. This is just one small part of the resources offered on Michele Rosenthal's excellent website, Heal My PTSD.

@psychcentral Healing and positivity can be as simple and uncomplicated as putting pen to paper. The benefits of writing therapy.
[SEO: "Writing therapy has been utilized and shown effective to help people process and regulate emotions, particularly for dealing with past trauma." While I think any form of writing can be therapeutic and beneficial, the linked article isn't really about dealing with past trauma. It's more about when you're past dealing with trauma you can use "positive writing" to clarify goals and solutions to problems. That's certainly worth a read.

But for trauma survivors still dealing with those trauma issues, see also Therapy Tools: The Therapy Journal, an article linked in the above post which I didn't catch when first published. Lots of great tips on using a therapy journal!]

@SarahEOlson2009 5 Ways to Silence Your Inner Critic
[SEO: An insightful look at how self-criticism partners with depression and/or anxiety, and steps to take "...that can help us quiet our inner critic so that we believe only half of what he/she says."]

@HopeLCSW 4 Must-Do Mindfulness Exercises To Boost Your Body Image and Life
[SEO: "...Jan Chozen Bays, M.D., writes 'Just as an untamed elephant can do damage, trampling crops and injuring people, so the untamed, capricious mind can cause harm to us and those around us.'" The focus is body image negativity, but it's a great post for anyone who feels trapped in negativity and self-criticism, generally. Discusses mindfulness as a full-time life skill (as opposed to a set 30 minute routine), and offers four exercises to try it out in that context.]

@psychcentral Positive Psych: How to Experience Rest, Renewal, and Restoration
[SEO: "We are human beings not human doings, and finding balance between work, rest, and play can help us have better physical and emotional health, and find greater life-fulfillment." Post provides a familiar list of how to find that balance. I can never have too many reminders on balance.]

@MentalHelpNet Feeling Overwhelmed? Take a Break
[SEO: "...sometimes the overwhelm is too great and in my mind, the underpinnings of mindfulness is to figure out what the most skillful action is to take. Perhaps 'being with' the overwhelm isn’t what is best in that moment for your stress reduction and well-being, and instead we need to 'take a break' from it in order to help stop the spiral."]

Every week I gather items from my Tweet stream that are funny, weird, beautiful, and/or inspiring. It’s a little mental health break when the world is a bit too stressful. There’s something here for everyone! Enjoy!

@EYSoul “If we could sell our experiences for what they cost us, we’d all be millionaires.” ~ Abigail Van Buren

@SarahEOlson2009 Bunny Jumping Show
[SEO: Bunnies doing show jumps like horses do. ]

@elJetSet Mind-Blowing Aerial Photography Around World
[SEO: A lot of these are so foreign, as to look almost alien. Truly a different perspective! And most are just gorgeous.]

@GreatestQuotes “It is wise to keep in mind that neither success nor failure is ever final.” ~ Roger Babson

@heykim 20 Things You Never Knew Were Named After People (via @AlexMLeo)
[SEO: Who knew there was a Mr. Comma? Or a Mr. Syphilis? Or the origin of the word 'algorithm'? (No, it wasn't from Al Gore. ]

@thequotemaster “Be bold. When you embark for strange places, don’t leave any of yourself safely on shore.” ~ Alan Alda

@docmarion “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” ~ Douglas Adams

@AmazingPics Amazing Spiral Effects
[SEO: Some of these look like true optical illusions, some are actually functional stairs. All very beautiful!]

@Alyssa_Milano “With the news about cell phones possibly causing cancer, I’m grateful that I use an AT&T iPhone and never have reception. Thanks, Steve!”

@pourmecoffee Penguins!
[SEO: It's like pointilism with penguins!]

@AlwaysWellWithn “The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problem.” ~ Gandhi