Monday, August 5, 2013

My CRN Digital Talk Radio Interview on Healing from PTSD

June was PTSD Awareness month, and I had the great pleasure of being interviewed by Dr. Sarah Larsen, one of the co-hosts of Divine Love Talk on CRN Digital Talk Radio, and one of my dearest friends, about Healing from PTSD.  It was a wonderful opportunity to share my experience with PTSD, my family's history of it, and how I was able to heal it within me through the program I created and now offer to others to help them reclaim their lives who suffer from PTSD, trauma, or stress.  I am so excited to share this with all of you!  I would love your feedback!  Find me on Facebook, Twitter, or email me at charlespacello@gmail.com and let me know what you think.  So much love!

Healing From PTSD



If you have difficulty with the above link, go to www.crntalk.com, then scroll down and click on "Divine Love Talk'.  When it moves to the next screen, click on 'Watch Divine Love Talk videos' and scroll down to the video titled 'Healing From PTSD.'


Saturday, August 3, 2013

A Powerful Email Communication with a Client

Below are some questions asked in an email communication between me and one of my clients.  This is such a powerful exchange, and we thought, we know, you are going to get so much out of it.  Just this one post, reading it over and over again, can be all you need for the transformation to occur in your life.  Susan is a 22 year old female who is experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and is seeking help to heal and recover (see my previous post on What works for PTSD?).  Her questions are penetrating and I could relate to all of her thoughts when I was in the deepest part of my PTSD and trauma, when I was going through the experience before I healed it within me.  You'll probably relate to it as well, and that's why I thought it would be worthwhile for others to read it who might be in the same situation.  I have changed my client's name and any other information that might identify this person, and with my client's permission, we share it with you.  I really know you'll get something out of this.  This could be life changing for others.  It could be life changing for you.   


Charlie,

I have so many questions running through my mind tonight. Most are insignificant. For example: What tone is the fan creating? Is there a pitch that dogs can't hear? Why wont the permanent marker bond to the metal?  Then there are the second level questions. How long is the layover in Chicago? Did I remember to get everything done before Stephanie comes in? I wonder how Mark is making out at the game? Lastly come the deeper questions. What happens when you die? What regrets do I have? Is it even worth contemplating this? I wonder if everyone thinks about killing themselves? If you pass along your traumas (see my earlier post Evidence That Traumas Get Passed Down)  do you also pass along your healing to the next generation? What if I'm not strong enough, brave enough, intelligent enough? Am I asking the right questions? And so on and so forth. 

I can't turn my brain off. I keep thinking about that first video you showed me during our meeting in LA about reincarnation. I'm a skeptic at heart. I'm still not sure what I think about it all. And then I start to wonder: Okay, so if the past no longer exists then what is the point of the now? (I write about this in one of my first posts of this blog titled Why is all time and space now?) Does anything hold inherent meaning? or, is meaning something we place onto things as a way to process its existence? Is that statement logical? 

What hope do we have if we don't even know what the future will hold? We don't even know what the next second holds for us. Maybe what I'm asking is whats the point? If there is something beyond ourselves then why are we here now - what am I supposed to be learning in this life that will aid me in the next? What is my purpose and is it even attainable?

Do you think there is something after death? Do you believe in God?


Here was my answer.


Hi Susan, I apologize for not writing to you sooner, I was working this evening and just got home.  

First off, I have to say you have such a beautiful, inquisitive mind, as innocent as a child, wanting to know about all sorts of things.  I totally get what you are feeling.  I felt the same way when I was suffering from PTSD and trauma, and my life was filled with doom and gloom (see my post where I write about my experience with PTSD: Reflections on 2012; What I want to Give in 2013).  I, like you, was reaching for answers, anything to give meaning to my life.  I was filled with so much despair and hopelessness, I didn't think I'd ever see the dawn of a new day.  Now, some of the answers to your questions are easy, and some not so easy, and are learned as one moves forward in life.

Have you noticed that questions and thoughts pop up automatically in your mind without any of your control?  It's like the "pop-ups" on your computer.  Our thoughts are like these "pop-ups".  We're not meant to give them attention.  They're just trying to get us a place to land.  It's a part of our ego's internal virus.  It will keep popping things up until one of them grabs your attention.  And then, you're like 'Oh my God, I can't deal with this thought!'  So then, it pulls you out of the present moment, and into the thought.  These "pop-ups" are called ANTS, or Automatic Negative Thoughts.  ANTS pop-up across the screen of your mind all the time.  They are trying to pull you out of the present moment and into pain.  They are part of our body, they are in the consciousness of our cells, they are in the environment all around us.  If we give them any power, we become paralyzed in ourselves.  So we constantly have to clean ourselves of ANTS, the ones that "popped-up".

We all want to know the answers to these questions: who am I?  Why am I here?  What is this all about?  Let me ask you to think about this for a moment: do you realize what a miracle it is to see, to hear, to smell, to taste, to touch?  And who is it that is experiencing these sensations?  Where are you?  They've searched all over the brain to find this 'command center', the man or woman in the chair taking in all this information, and have yet to find it.  Because it is consciousness, and consciousness is a state of being, it is an awareness of itself.  But who is the seer seeing?  Who is the feeler feeling?  Whenever you get caught up in the stream of thoughts, bring yourself back to the miracle of who you are.  Existence is a miracle!  Take the time to absorb and appreciate this, truly reflect on what it is to exist.  

Now, many of these thoughts originate in fear.  Fear of the unknown, fear of the future, fear of some unexpected calamity awaiting us around the next turn.  Our minds are so powerful, we can create and bring into our experience the very fears we are so afraid of experiencing because you will create what you defend against.  You will subconsciously create the situation you are trying to avoid.  Thus, we have to learn how to control our minds, select the thoughts we want to hold on to, and learn how to discard and detach from the ones we don't want.  If we have this much control on what we experience in our lives, and we do, then we want to empower ourselves with the thoughts of the things we do want to experience.  That doesn't mean we won't face challenges or conflicts in our lives, we will, human beings are designed to struggle, its how we learn and grow.  It's our attitude in the face of external circumstances that makes the difference.  It is the greatest and best of the human freedoms, and those who have faced the most horrid situations, for instance the Holocaust, by virtue of their attitude made all the difference in the world in how they overcame their challenges.

What is the point of life?  Life.  Reality is what it is.  We give it the meaning it mean to us.  Enjoy life.  Seek what is joyful, be grateful, find the good in all that occurs, and take full responsibility for your experience.  You are responsible for your own happiness.  The outside world is not.  While you were thinking all these things, was the outside world doing anything to you?  No. We project the source of our happiness on the world, and when the world doesn't come through for us in the ways we think it should, we get angry, depressed, and filled with hopelessness and despair.  This vulnerability is a consequence of the way we were taught to believe that the source of our happiness is "out there".  To place the source of our happiness on something outside of ourselves creates a negative energy field because it is basically a lie.  The source of happiness is not something that is outside ourselves at all.  We give meaning to the world.  And what we project onto it, or the way we hold it, depends on the meaning we give to it.  In and of itself, it has no meaning; it merely is.  Meaning is a mental construction that we have projected out, thereby assigning value to something.  The values arise out of our own mental/emotional values which are then projected onto something outside of us.  Value and significance is given to a person, place, or thing, by you.  The context and meaning in our lives is re-energized by recognizing that nothing outside of us can make us happy; you are the source of your own happiness.  Don't give out to the world what is within your power to control.  You are the one who sets up the meaning and give these thoughts power over you.  Take back your power.  Be the source.

Did you know the universe never duplicates itself?  There will only be one Susan, there's only one you.  Cherish it.  Be your best friend, be your lover, this is your experience of life!  How do you want to live it?  Ask questions only if it leads you to a deeper understanding and enriches your life experience.  If it causes you grief or suffering, that's a sign you're allowing yourself to be pulled down by the gravity of the lower thought forms.  If you want to know the darker truths, let the purpose behind it be to bring this awareness to the light, so that it makes you a more whole and complete person.  When you reach a state of hopelessness that's an indication that you need to re-think this and find something that's uplifting, motivating, and energizing.  It's your life.  You are creating it with your thoughts.  You are responsible for how you act and respond in your world.  To do your part in changing the world, you must conquer yourself, you must master yourself, and be the change you want to see in the world.  Begin with you.

The point of the reincarnation video is to open your mind to new possibilities.  If you want to learn more about the scientific evidence supporting reincarnation, I suggest you look at the works of Dr. Ian Stevenson.  It is the most respected data supporting the case for reincarnation.  His credentials are impeccable and his studies are scrupulously objective and methodologically impeccable.  Of 2500 cases that he investigated, 1500 of them were considered 'confirmed', meaning they were verified and substantiated.  That's a significant number.  However, I'm not here to convince you to believe in reincarnation.  Just the possibility of it.  You make the decision for you.  

As to the question, do I believe in God?  Yes.  I do.  God is.  In the deepest darkness of my despair I made contact with something inside of me that had always been there, and now, I feel it all the time.  I have had a personal religious experience with my Creator, a reunion with my Source.  And it grows everyday.  I'm not the type to go around preaching about it, or chastising people for living in sin, blah, blah, blah...it's what is called a mystical experience of the unknown.  Because you asked, I have told you the truth.  We each get to decide what kind of a world we want to live in, and based on our beliefs, we get the world we choose.  I'm not here to convert you.  I'm here to get you healthy and recover from the effects of PTSD.  Your relationship to the universe is up to you.  

That was the conversation.  Have a wonderful weekend!