Gretchen Schmelzer > Quotes

“There is no simple answer to this except to say that at all times, both can be true. You can feel awful: anxious, sad, devastated, detached—whatever gets stirred up by your trauma history. But these feelings are old feelings-like a soundtrack to a movie that has already happened. Sometimes these feelings drown out the current soundtrack. It is hard to hear the present over the past. But you have to remember that the current soundtrack-your current life—s real. Your old feelings are real, because you have them, but they aren't about the present, and if you can let both soundtracks run at the same time, gradually the old soundtrack will fade.”
― Gretchen Schmelzer, Journey Through Trauma: A Trail Guide to the 5-Phase Cycle of Healing Repeated Trauma

“Bessel van der Kolk, «En la medida en que guardes secretos y reprimas información, estarás fundamentalmente en guerra contigo mismo. […] El punto crítico estriba en que te permitas saber lo que sabes. Para eso hace falta mucho coraje».”
― Gretchen Schmelzer, El viaje a través del trauma

“When do you need to call your therapist? Email or write your therapist? Text your therapist? When would journaling work and when wouldn't it? Who is on your social support team? Sometimes it is helpful to let the people on your team know why you would need support and what would be most helpful from them, and ask them if you can reach out to them, the way that AA sponsors can be supportive when an alcoholic is feeling an urge to drink. And sometimes it can be simply supportive to be around people and not have to talk—to just be part of the everyday conversations of relationship and not have it be about the trauma at all.”
― Gretchen Schmelzer, Journey Through Trauma: A Trail Guide to the 5-Phase Cycle of Healing Repeated Trauma

“Holding two tracks at once is a difficult skill, and if you can't do it you will have a much harder time healing. So I think that it is a skill worth carning and practicing. When you are in the process of healing from a physical injury, it is otten important to pay attention to pain management and the kinds of physical adjusting or compensating you would need to do in order to both heal and live your life. And the same is true when healing from trauma. You need to engage in emotional pain management and make the necessary adjustments in order to continue the work of healing, but also to live your present life to its fullest.”
― Gretchen Schmelzer, Journey Through Trauma: A Trail Guide to the 5-Phase Cycle of Healing Repeated Trauma

“La sanación ocurre realmente en la poesía, donde las paradojas se escriben a través de la emoción, de la contradicción y de la metáfora, donde todo puede coexistir. Como decía Rainer Maria Rilke, «Toma tus disciplinadas fortalezas y extiéndelas entre los dos grandes polos opuestos, porque es dentro de los seres humanos donde Dios aprende».”
― Gretchen Schmelzer, El viaje a través del trauma

“Am I just numb again? But you aren't numb. You are astually experiencing peace—calm. You are feeling the absence of distress.
Iris the difference between not feeling pain because you are on a painkiller, and not feeling pain because the area has healed. There is an odd openness in the Consolidation phase. I say odd because it will likely feel new; for people who have lived through repeated trauma, feelings of openness or freedom are rare. You may not recognize them.
Consolidation is a state without yearning or seeking. It is a place of rest.
I believe that this is where your body, your system, your brain absorbs the changes it has been through. It is a state from which you can grow.”
― Gretchen Schmelzer, Journey Through Trauma: A Trail Guide to the 5-Phase Cycle of Healing Repeated Trauma

“Edward Tick señala: «Los veteranos saben que, habiendo estado en el infierno y habiendo regresado, ahora son diferentes. Tenemos la esperanza de que dejen atrás la guerra y se unan de nuevo al flujo cotidiano de la vida civil. Pero para ellos es imposible hacerlo, y es un error por nuestra parte pedírselo».”
― Gretchen Schmelzer, El viaje a través del trauma