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Health & Fitness

Wisconson: Ways to Respond to Traumatic News

What do we do when confronted by the media with a hate crime? It is essential that we do not get lost in suffering or pain when we hear or see such terrible news.

What do we do when confronted by the media with a hate crime on the scale of Wisconon's Sikh temple? It is essential that we do not get lost in suffering or pain when we hear or see such terrible news. We cannot allow a knee-jerk reaction to put us in a non-resourceful space.

Instead we can use bad news to put us in a resourceful state. One way to do this is by using an NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) technique called "anchoring."  Recall or remember a time when you heard or saw bad news and immediately went into a resourceful state of energy and creativity. If you do not have such a memory then go to a time when you felt resourceful and use that experience.

So, instead of getting lost in negativity of anger or pain and suffering, you right away went into this altered state of resourcefulness. In order to anchor this experience,  be sure you are in a safe place and close your eyes and notice how you felt. Where were you sitting or standing? Notice what you saw, felt and heard at the time in detail. Was it in color or black and white? Were you inside the scene seeing it from your own eyes or outside the scene noticing yourself and everything else? Where were the sounds coming from? What were you feeling on the soles of your feet?

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Create an anchor for yourself to bring back those resourceful feelings and pair that feeling with a touch on the sole of your foot. Now pair the feelings of the sole of your foot with the news so that now, by touching the sole of your foot, you should bring back those resourceful feelings and give yourself a new sense of choice when hearing or seeing bad news. If you do not get the response you want, then create another anchor after recalling those resourceful feelings on that spot on your body with your hand.

A universal tool that makes us feel closer to a higher power is prayer. We can all pray for the wellbeing of the survivors and their families and friends and for an end to hatred in the world. We don't want hate crimes to control our behavior but to give us choice in our lives.

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Let me know how it goes. Good luck!

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