Empowerment Through Being Powerless – How many times do you feel anchored to the chains of the past? Does your mind replay a traumatic event over and over to the point you feel no escape from the pain? Do you find yourself looking to someone else for approval or validation? Have you witnessed a loved one die? Even the peaceful passing of a loved one leaves an emotional scar.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition caused by being part of or witnessing a terrifying event. Those afflicted have difficulty recovering from the event. In a sense they’re haunted by the trauma. Normally we associate PTSD with military personnel and victims of violent crimes. But did you know, that most people suffer from varying degrees of PTSD?
You may not even realize how much the past has a grip over your present and your view of tomorrow. PTSD has many triggers. The anniversary of the death of a loved one, certain songs, photos and scents.
Physical objects and places can also mentally and emotionally transport you back to that traumatic event. These triggers can be intensified by “Psychometry” which everyone is capable of to varying degrees. Psychometry is discerning the vibrational energy of a person, place or thing. On the subatomic level everything vibrates at different frequencies. Matter retains vibration and humans are capable of detecting that vibration and translating it into discernable information. Traumatic events generate a massive vibration which is easily detected. When it comes to a physical location, the vibrational energy is intensified especially if the location was the site of a violent event.
September 11 is a day which symbolizes loss and grief on a mass scale, and yet brings it home to all of us including my own family. That is why my book “Evidence of Eternity” begins with a story about my cousin who was at the Twin Towers during the September 11, 2001 terror attack.
During a speaking tour of New York City, my manager Rocky and I wanted to pay our respects at the 9-11 Memorial. I’ve been to and investigated many sites where horrible things happened including former mental institutions, battlefields, and Nazi Concentration Camps in Germany and Poland. Each brought immense psychic and emotional challenges for me. Ground Zero in Manhattan was no exception.
As Rocky and I approached the 9-11 Memorial we were touched by the beauty of its elegant design. It features twin waterfall pools one where each tower stood. These are surrounded by parapets engraved with the names of the victims of the 9-11 attacks and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Gazing at the somber yet graceful memorial with the immense waterfalls flowing into the void was serene, yet I could feel the residual energy echo of the deaths of so many people and it was overwhelming. I do not believe that spirits are trapped in any location on earth. My work as a paranormal investigator and medium indicates that belief is arcane and not based on science. What I was encountering was the residual energy echo of what happened there. A residual energy echo is no more a spirit than your reflection in a mirror is you.
Residual energy echo notwithstanding, this was still extremely stressful. I was on psychic overload and then I was consumed by another emotion—anger. I was furious that such cruelty was inflicted by hateful fanatics upon so many innocent people.
As a psychic medium, a large part of what I do is to help people heal from the wounds of their past. Yet how could I counsel people about something as colossal as the terror attack on the Twin Towers in Manhattan?
Taking a deep breath and exhaling it gently I centered and focused myself. I felt powerless—and then it dawned on me—the key to healing from the past is realizing I was powerless to change it. That may sound simplistic, but it is actually quite complex.
Given the opportunity everyone would go back in time to save the life of a loved one. With the ability to time travel you could change something about your childhood, career or relationship. You may even want to bring last Saturday night’s winning lottery numbers. As long as you’re swinging in to save the day you might as well get rich—right?
Sounds great! But unless your eccentric genius neighbor Dr. Brown invites you to go for a spin in his DeLorean with its newly upgraded flux capacitor, it’s impossible to change the past.
On a serious note, people tend to feel responsibility for the terrible things which have happened to them whether or not they were at fault. This self-imposed burden of responsibility triggers anger, resentment, guilt, and depression which results in low self-esteem.
Realizing how powerless you are can empower your emotional healing.
When the darkness of negativity overwhelms you as your mind replays the death of a loved one, or some other trauma from your past, look to the Light of powerlessness.
Tell yourself:
- “I am powerless to change the fact my loved one died.”
- “I am powerless to change the past.”
- “I am powerless to change his/her/their behavior.”
- “I cannot change yesterday, but I am the master of today.”
PTSD comes in many forms and it doesn’t require a terrorist attack like 9-11 or the pain caused by the death of a loved one. Sometimes the trauma may seem trivial to outsiders, but it isn’t to the one enduring it.
A woman told me she didn’t go to her high school reunion because as a teenager she was awkward and felt unattractive. The high school “in” crowd bullied and ridiculed her, called her names and socially rejected her. Even though she graduated decades ago, this past trauma still plagued her.
I told her, “Find empowerment through being powerless.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Never be ashamed of your emotional pain, but that doesn’t mean you have to be its prisoner. You’re powerless to change their behavior. You didn’t need their validation then and you certainly don’t need it now.”
Her frown faded into a slight smile, “I never thought of it that way Mark—somehow that makes me feel better.”
Being bullied and taunted still haunted her. It may not compare to the magnitude of 9-11, but this was her PTSD.
Accepting you are powerless to change the past or control the behavior of those who’ve wronged you in the past lifts the weight of responsibility from your heart. This leads to accepting you are the only one responsible for your actions and feelings. It also helps you understand while you cannot change the past, you must learn from it in order to grow personally.
By accepting you have no power to change the past you are now empowered to control the present. The road to healing is not an express lane but rather a long and winding road through many peaks, valleys, and detours, but ultimately, you’re the one in the driver’s seat.
You may be powerless over yesterday but you are empowered for creating a positive today and a brighter tomorrow.
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