ers from PTSD to understand that PTSD is not a disorder at all.
There is nothing wrong. PTSD results from the natural functioning
of your unconscious mind. In a life-threatening situation, your
mind puts feelings aside and 100 percent of your awareness focuses
on dealing with the danger. Later, after the event, your unconscious
mind brings forth the suppressed feelings to your awareness so you
can resolve them after the danger has past. Sometimes this may be
years later.
In my case, when I returned home, I experienced inappropriate
reactions to sudden loud noises, such as diving facedown into snow-
banks in response to buses backfiring, and intense nightmares caus-
ing me to awaken bathed in sweat. The awareness that all of this was
part of a natural process rather than an indication that something
was wrong, coupled with simply talking about it, aided in problem
resolution. If you experience PTSD from any traumatic event, ask
yourself whether you would really want to be the kind of person
who would go through a traumatic experience like that and notbe
affected by it.
People who suffer from survivor’s guilt often tend to seek valida-
tion as, at least, a temporary relief from the guilt. Thus, the mature
Private Ryan in Saving Private Ryanasks his wife to tell him that he
has led a good life.
The effort of suppressing guilt only increases its power. Surely
carrying around guilt of any sort limits self-expression as well as in-
come production.
Your feelings are the subjective experience of your passion. How
much of your passion do you put into what you don’t want? How
much passion do you put into what you do want?
Feelings have two components: the energy itself and your opin-
ion about the feelings. You have no control over the energy itself,
but you do have complete control over your opinion. And your
opinion determines what any feeling means about you or to you.
Your opinion (remember, you control this) is the more impor-
tant part, because it determines how the energy affects you. Your
opinion may take many forms, but the essential aspect is whether
the feeling is acceptable to you. If it is acceptable, then the energy is
available for the activity of your choice. If it is not acceptable, the en-
ergy becomes much less useful and, in some cases, even destructive.
How we respond to feelings of threat, anxiety, regret, guilt, and
joyousness define our personality at the deepest level. For example,
some people give up in the face of failure; others become more de-118 Stop Wasting Your Energy