Origins of Trans-generational Trauma

The discoveries  about the brain by neuroscientists  have become more and more available to the general public. So, non-science types, perhaps you,  are learning about trauma and brain changes, including the most recent discoveries  that show us that future generations can be impacted  by the traumatic events of past generations as DNA is changed negatively by the cascade of stress hormones. It was thought that trans-generational trauma occurred by the traumatized parents inability to be… Continue reading

War Can Knock On Any Door

You wake up every day, take kids to school and do whatever you usually do without its ever crossing your mind that one day everything can change. But then just one single day changes your life; Somewhere in your country, a war has begun. My story is not a story about what happens when war comes to your house. It is about what happens when war stands just outside. You start checking the news every… Continue reading

Native Alaska: Trans-generational Toxic Stress

They didn’t talk about it and didn’t want to.  They changed the subject when it was brought up by the young people  — what happened? Silence — a non-response common throughout the world by those who have experienced brutal defeat, genocidal actions, sending Native children to schools, decimating families, preparing the way for segregation and racism.  The shame is nearly unbearable.  So Silence. Nancy didn’t know the specifics of her people’s pain —  depression, alcoholism,… Continue reading

Calming and Settling Children in Stress

Janet Courtney, Ph.D. is a leader in developmental play therapy and wants to help stressed mothers who may need some new ideas of ways to calm and settle their children.  She is especially interested in adding to the existing cultural traditions of women living in war, war-like conditions and in the aftermath.  We have posted some of her calming activities for children on our ACTIVITIES  page. She talks about what motivated her to do this work:… Continue reading

Stress response: men and women differ

The discovery of how women’s responses to stress are different than men came about in a casual conversation between two University (UCLA) women scientists, Laura Cousino Klein, PhD and Shelley Taylor who noted their reactions to work stress were different than their male colleagues. They started hunting down some studies on how men and women responded to stress to see if there were any distinguishing differences. What they didn’t find were the studies that focused… Continue reading

Two Heart Cells

When two heart cells are brought together and separated by glass, it takes 2 seconds for them to beat in sync.   What is the lesson for us? — it takes effort to stop that process.

heart-fire

Joseph Chilton Pierce

 

 

The Tone and Texture of Shame

Shikata ga nai: It cannot be helped. Carl Watanabe is a Japanese American, an intelligent,  thoughtful, fun, and earnest man. He has been in public radio and public life for many years.  I first met him years ago in his public radio role.  Once I realized that he and I shared WWII from very different perspectives — he was Japanese American and I am native Californian who lived on the San Francisco penninsula — I… Continue reading

Waves Wash the Wounded Shore

From the fifteenth floor balcony, we were looking  at the Mediterranean spreading its waves on the wounded shore. There were smiles coming at us through the windows from the high rise buildings near by. Children screaming in joy, were finally free to check and see if their neighbors were still alive. Flocks of pigeons were flying across the sky wiping away the smoke and clearing the intense noise of the earlier bombing. Ceasefire was announced.… Continue reading