Seven more active duty multi-tour combat veterans of Iraq,
Afghanistan and Vietnam, diagnosed with PTSD, shared their life charts and
aloneness, faced their fears and buried feelings, opened their hearts through
gratefulness, and became instantly connected together through their between
sessions internet conversations ~ thus inspired each other to face their fears
and begin to dramatically heal themselves in only eight weeks: Allen L Roland
I
have long felt and have now clearly proved that PTSD is quite often Post
Traumatic Heart Disorder for a common symptom of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
is the inability to give or receive love ~ which can obviously apply to
non-veterans who have also suffered significant loss or emotional childhood
and/or adult pain.
I
have also clearly demonstrated that only after the heart is opened can true
self-healing occur for only then does the client (veterans or otherwise) truly
want to heal. Using the premise that what is deepest within us is love
(not pain and anger) and utilizing an action oriented approach to face and go
through their fears ~ these veterans, soon discover that beneath their pain,
anger and shame is not only love and joy but most importantly their true
authentic self.
The
purpose then of the Healing the Wounded Heart Workshops is to penetrate the
grey zone of guilt, aloneness and unworthiness, that many War Veterans
diagnosed with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) experience, and this is
done within a supportive group setting through heart centered self-exploration,
group sharing, guided visualization and action oriented homework ~ where
love and joy eventually overcome fear and separation.
The
ultimate fire fight is on the battleground of the heart for it is there that we
meet our deepest fears and issues of unworthiness. Combat veterans are often
bonded in combat whereas the loss of their buddies is just as traumatic as the
loss of a family member. A heart centered approach to PTSD re-opens their
closed hearts, reconnecting them to an innocent and loving child within
themselves which accelerates the self-healing process
The
first meeting of the Healing The Wounded Heart Veterans Workshop #10 was held
on June 22, 2012 at 6 PM in Danville, California ~ and was sponsored by the
Vietnam Veterans of Diablo Valley.
All
had done a pre- workshop assessment before the first session but I had them do
another assessment regarding current feelings of love, joy and peace of mind at
the start of the first session ~ on a scale of 1 – 10 with one being the worst
and ten being the most positive rating. They all averaged between three and
four ~ with many ongoing symptoms of unworthiness and depression.
Eight
weeks later their final assessment regarding feelings of love, joy and peace of
mind found them all averaged between 8 and 10 ~ with many of their ongoing
symptoms of PTSD no longer occurring.
We
met once a week for approximately three hours. All of them had many symptoms of
PTSD and even TBI but all had the common symptom of a closed heart and the
inability to love and receive love ~ mainly because of deep unworthiness
issues that originally started in childhood and were reinforced through their
military experience.
All
of them were looking for a light at the end of their personal dark tunnel of
unworthiness ~ and all of them found it within themselves.
I
told them that this was an action based heart centered transformation workshop
and if they did their homework they would reach a place of not only another
choice but would open their closed hearts in the process. They would also begin
to see through different eyes ~ eyes unclouded by fear, anger and
unworthiness. I also explained through my Cycle Of Life chart how
psychic pain will override Joy to the extent that most people have no idea that
beneath their deepest pain and aloneness is love, joy and connectedness ~ a Unified Field of love, joy and soul consciousness.
After
each session ~ part of their homework was to read each session in my book RADICAL THERAPY / SURRENDER TO LOVE AND HEAL YOURSELF IN
SEVEN SESSIONS (NOT SEVEN YEARS ) which
reinforced the previous group session. I also told them that these sessions
were all about transformation and that these action based sessions could well
bring up painful memories ~ but that beneath that deep pain was as even
deeper thread of love, joy and innocence ~ which all of them had experienced at
one time in their childhood
Of
course, that first session I shared my own heart's journey (as well as my life
chart) to find a lost and alone little boy within myself who not only wanted to
fly, and became a Navy Fighter pilot, but also to love as deeply as I loved my
beloved grandfather before I was torn away from him at six years old. We talked
about the war and all of them briefly shared their individual journey and by
the end of three hours ~ they began to feel a sense of commonality. Their
homework was to produce a life chart of the path of their own heart's journey ~
which they would share, one by one, with the group over the next three
sessions. The objective of the life chart is for the participant to see
their life as a quest, versus a struggle, to find their authentic self and how
every love relationship has played a significant role
in that quest.
I
told them that I was their coach, not their therapist, and that they had free
access to me by telephone or email at any time during this process of
self-discovery. But they also had free access to everyone else in the
group and encouraged them to share their individual insights and progress with
each other ~ which greatly accelerated their self-healing process because they, in essence, inspired each other in
this healing process.
The
life chart is something like a crime scene where something happened and
somebody was lost in childhood. In essence, I assist them, one by one, in
connecting the dots to help them find where they separated from their original
innocent state of being, when they made the decision to be something other than
themselves and how their whole life has been an inner QUEST, not a struggle, to
find and fully experience their authentic self again. I help them see how
all of their love relationships, regardless of the pain that may have ensued,
have all been gifts on that quest as they most certainly have been in my life.
Sharing
their individual life charts, with my guidance, in front of the entire group
not only established commonality but was a major step in coming out of their
self-imposed cocoons of fear as well as the important realization that it is
safe and exciting to be honest, real and authentic. The life charts set
the stage for all of the exercises and
transformation that would occur later in the sessions. All of them were looking
for a light at the end of a dark tunnel of unworthiness, self-doubt and guilt ~
and all of them found that light within themselves
I’ll
let their post workshop evaluations tell the story of their eight week inner
journey through fear to love, self-acceptance and joy;
DF ~ " I
enjoyed coach Allen, the book and exercises and I trust myself more. I also
think other people trust me more since I trust myself and my feelings "
MB
~
" I loved the inner child exercise, I've gone beyond my anger and I
honestly love myself and can accept who I am. "
EB
~
"
I
loved the group
dynamic
and
connectivity
~ doing this alone might not have worked and it brought me back to my wife and
kids "
CO
~ " I enjoyed the life
chart and exercises particularly the Victim/Accountability exercise as well as
meeting the inner child. I significantly changed from a completely negative
world view "
ME
~ " This is the most
powerful love I have ever experienced ~ this is the single most important step I have taken towards being myself "
RF
~ "
I learned that all I have to do is just be truly myself and everything will be
all right "
RQ
~ " I realized that
I'm loved and all I have to do is be real and start acting like I'm loved
"
In
addition, every effort was made to involve the wives and partners of the
workshop participants and they were all invited to the last celebration session
on August 10th ~ where EB's wife tearfully shared that she finally had her
husband back and their children were finally
experiencing the person she married. Each participant also has a free
session with their partner and myself at the conclusion of the sessions ~
in order to fully integrate their partner with the heart centered
approach and process.
In
summary
~ Healing the wounded heart workshop #10 was truly unique because they
constantly emailed each other and shared their homework experiences and
inspired each other to take risks and truly experience themselves in the
process ~ thus accelerating their individual self-healing process. They
were all coming from gratitude toward the
people in their life who they had never thanked within two sessions and all of
their closed hearts had opened by the sixth session.
These
combat veterans had been trained to kill and many had faced significant fear in
the process of their military experience ~ many had gone to the dark side
and were still living on the outskirts.
All
of them wanted to experience another heartfelt choice and they all experienced
it in this workshop ~ that's all I can do as a coach and therapist ~ the
gift I gave them was myself as well as the
tools to sustain that choice.
Band
of Brothers #11 starts on August 17th and many of these same graduates will
welcome them and share their experience at
the opening session.
I
am indebted to the Vietnam Veterans of Diablo Valley and their board for their
commitment to returning GWOT veterans of Iraq, Afghanistan and the Gulf as well
as their financial commitment to this life changing heart centered work.
Allen
L Roland
Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist and psychotherapist
Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements and
private consultations allen@allenroland.com
Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and
lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog
and website allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show
TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net
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