Many people experience emotional trauma suffered in childhood and continue to wallow in grief, sadness, or anxiety needlessly from this trauma well into their adult years. Just one incidence of childhood trauma more than doubles the possibility for someone to suffer from depression and anxiety when they grow older. [1]
However, there are ways to heal this trauma for good and to internalize new beliefs to replace erroneous self-identification that tells us we’re not good enough, we’re lacking in some way, or that we aren’t perfect beings of light created to express joyfully in this world.
What is the Most Common Age to Experience Long-Lasting Emotional Trauma?
The most common age for most people to experience trauma is between the ages of 2 and 12. When we are babies, we are most often in a Delta brain wave state. This state is associated with deep dreaming. Between 2 and 6, our brains are most commonly in a constant Theta brainwave state, associated with insight, inspiration, and long-lasting memory. From 6 to adolescence we enter Alpha. These states are very contemplative and meditative, and make us less critical of our influences.
As children, we are in a kind of constant self-hypnosis. This is why trauma that happens when we are young can be so enduring.
If this “dream” teaches us to be strong, loving, resilient, and that we’re supported unconditionally, we tend to carry those thoughts forward into our adult experience. If we experience trauma, or feelings of being unloved, maltreated, or even abused, we need to reprogram that “dream” into something glorious and self-serving, instead of continuing to identify with the thought patterns that were established at this time. [2]
How Can I Heal from Childhood Trauma?
While there are many modalities to address childhood trauma, the most effective ones tend to put us in brain wave states where we can retrain the “dream.” Most of the trauma is stored in our bodies and as unconscious thought patterns. We must excavate and heal those traumas, install new programming and new thoughts, and solidify that new experience with thoughts as the most common and active thoughts in our minds and hearts to truly experience transformational positive change.
Accessing Subconscious Beliefs
Our beliefs are just a collection of thoughts based on the stories we’ve been told and continue to tell ourselves, and how we “identify” with these thoughts. We accept many things as being “true” when they are simply beliefs about ourselves and the world. When we change the identification with a story we’ve been told, we can then replace it with a different one that results in different beliefs about ourselves. Again, this is often best done by accessing the subconscious programming of our minds. The tools of meditation, chanting, breathwork, journaling, and using the guidance of a healer can help to target deep-seated trauma, release it, and help you build a new story that creates new experiences for you. As Anton Chekov said, “We are what we believe.”
Image from https://instagram.com/healersofthelight
The Biochemistry of Belief
When our beliefs change, our biochemistry literally changes. Our interpretations of reality can change physiological processes and thus alter our health, mood, and motivation. The Ph.D. biologist and researcher, Candace Pert’s work on how emotions affect our very cellular structures is clear when it comes to removing trauma and reinstalling new beliefs, and Bruce Lipton’s work echos her findings. Healing only happens when we decide to believe something different than what we were taught to believe in a traumatic experience, but the awareness of the power of consciousness is a portal into a brand new “self.” [3]
[1] Dunn, E. C., Nishimi, K., Powers, A., & Bradley, B. (2017). Is developmental timing of trauma exposure associated with depressive and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms in adulthood? Journal of Psychiatric Research, 84, 119-127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
[2] How we are conditioned from childhood for failure or success. (2021, August 1). Mental Strength. https://mentalstrength.com/
[3] The Biochemistry of Belief. Indian Journal of Psychiatry. (January 7 2022) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/