Following is an excerpt from my book, Reconciliation: A Son’s Story.
“It’s dumbfounding to understand just how much damage can be done by one human being. One thing I try to remember about humans is this: one person can change history by a negative choice and one person change history with a good choice. Choosing to heal is a good choice. It helps change life for you now and in the future. It prevents unnecessary pain for yourself and others. It heals you, it helps heal others. Your choice to reach out is a good choice as well and it matters.” F. Magdalene Austin
“I took this quote from an article, “What are Your Hyper Vigilance and Hyper Arousal Symptoms?” published by Sundrip Journals. It clearly reinforces my desire and that of others to reach out, share, and heal from traumatic events that result in suffering from the symptoms of PTSD. So far my knowledge of the subject is exponentially larger than before, and knowing more about my past and current behaviors allows a form of treatment for healing and to mitigate certain behaviors that are actually over the top. My intensity works well in a sales type environment where my career flourished over the years. But working with a board in a non-profit and social services culture is not conducive to excessive intensity caused by hyper vigilance & hyper arousal. You simply push people away and make them nervous or resentful or they feel threatened. This has been a career long behavior in my experience, working very well and effectively in a competitive highly intense and sense of urgency culture, that being sales & marketing. But it can be troublesome and potentially destructive behavior in a less intense world of people focused on a kinder and gentler daily life style. And on a personal level, my wife, Judy, has helped me to become more tolerant of others who are less intense because that is who she is or who they are. It’s helped me to diffuse the “over the top” intensity referred to and shows how important it is to have a support system that can tolerate and coach a person suffering from PTSD symptoms, specifically those referred to here.” Click http://www.redbubble.com/people/sundrip/art/2240201-ptsd to see F. Magdalene Austin’s beautiful and thought provoking art.
