Putting the Growth in Post-Traumatic Growth
In a previous blog about Post-Traumatic Growth, I wrote:
“Post-Traumatic Growth refers to the positive changes in individuals following traumatic events. This isn’t to say that trauma doesn’t leave its mark, it does. But research has shown that for many people, trauma serves as a catalyst for growth in five key areas: New Possibilities, Relating to Others, Personal Strength, Spiritual Change, and Appreciation of Life. These changes don’t happen automatically, nor do they occur for everyone. But for those who experience Post-Traumatic Growth, it’s a profound shift in how they view themselves, their relationships, and the world around them.”
I did not know it at the time, but after going to graduate school to combine visual art, psychology, and spirituality,
I stumbled upon a method for harnessing and directing a process for post-traumatic growth.
While working on my MFA-IA project, I found a way to use self-portrait drawing to process traumatic experiences
and induce a transformation. For a while, I tried to share this method, but if the participant was not a good artist they would get frustrated with their drawings and block themselves from doing the valuable emotional processing
that was available.
So, I started seeking another method for inducing the same transformative results, one that anyone could use and get benefits from. Although it has taken me over 25 years to develop and refine, I am delighted to share that the improve method, called Soul Gardening, does indeed promote growth and trauma healing.
Soul Gardening has helped me to heal and work through many previous traumatic experiences -
traumatic experiences that were stored in my subconscious waiting for me to be ready to address them and integrate
them. Yet, I did not resolve these past traumatic experiences by focusing on the traumas themselves, rather I
focused on my growth, dreams, and achievements.
There is a secret to this method: if you focus on the traumas, sometimes you can deepen their groove and
stay stuck in the trauma loop. Rather if you focus on what you want and what will give you a sense of purpose and meaning, you can heal and resolve the past traumas while you are growing towards a transformed sense of self.
When you focus on achieving something larger than yourself, you can often summon the energy to achieve it an
overcome the challenges and limitations of your past.
I have written about this process of growth in my book, Activating Lunar Alchemy,
where I describe the process of attuning to the Moon cycle to transform your emotional pain into spiritual abundance.
The expanded process of doing this post-traumatic growth work is called Soul Gardening.
In Soul Gardening you attune to the rhythms of Nature – the cyclical rhythms of the earth like the seasons
and the Moon cycle – to support your post-traumatic growth and cultivate your unique sense of purpose and
meaning like a garden.
I have used the process of Soul Gardening to help me achieve my biggest dreams, including publishing my book,
getting into a happy, secure long-term relationship, completing my ordination project, establishing my business,
and now promoting a new era of trauma healing work.
In order to achieve the above, however, I had to recognize, confront, and work through a lot of past traumas,
such as the effects of being a child of a narcissist, deep loss, fear of abandonment, and shame due to my father’s
death when I was 10 years old, as well as a low sense of self-worth due to multiple early childhood traumas.
Growth work is trauma healing work at the most profound level.
If you would like the benefits of post-traumatic growth while working towards a greater sense of meaning and purpose,
I invite you to check out Soul Gardening.
By practicing Soul Gardening, you can:
Transform your trauma into your greatest gifts and assets
Expand your self-awareness and increase your intuition
Have increased health by promoting body-mind-emotions-spirit balance
Attune to the rhythms of nature to experience greater ease and abundance
Align your spiritual growth to reveal and manifest your purpose
If you would like my personal guidance to learn and practice Soul Gardening, I am currently offering live,
interactive workshops via Zoom throughout the year.
In Introduction to Soul Gardening, you will learn:
How to transmute emotional obstacles & limiting beliefs into nutrient rich energy for your ultimate success
How to attune your energy to the seasons for balance
How to align your efforts with the Moon cycle for flow
How to tend your spiritual growth like tending a garden
How to bring forth a big vision, dream, project, or achievement with ease
