The Daily G.I.F.T. from The GratiDude

I broke my beak off when I broke up with Tito. My feathers have never felt finer.

www.grateful4.org

Gratitude

Intention

First

Things

The G.I.F.T. Today

Grateful-for all the form of love and abundance that I see and receive with deep gratitude, Rich Katz today for example

Intention-the more activities on the calendar the more connected to breath

First-book body heat

Things-email GD guys

Morning Platitude from The GratiDude

All fundamental changes start between the ears, and that is exactly where an eagle beak is found is between the years. For us humans however the between the years that I refer to is what Bobby Jones called the “5.5-inch space” between your ears.

My experience with people that I have met from developing countries, primarily here in the United States, but also lots of Canadians and Latin Americans over the years, is that when we have reached early adulthood, we have barely scratched the surface on our evolution of our beliefs and values and the way that we will look at the world overtime.

Much of the cornerstone or bedrock foundation has been laid, one would hope, with love and kind care when we were young and vulnerable, especially.

From there, we become a mosaic painting of all the influences and energies that we have experienced, especially in those formative years through the age of about 13. This is when we are really forming the lens with which we will view the world as we have all these fingerprints, personalities, and people to process and to integrate into our sense of self and to the view that we take out into the world as young adults.

Our parents are hugely influential in this, and the examples they set are often so deep and wide, and it permeated so much of our ways of thinking, and our reality that it can be tough to understand exactly where those influences are manifesting in our thinking and subsequent behaviors.

I have written here in this blog about the moment that my dear babysitter, Pam, walked in on me, imitating my dad taking a swig out of a red wine jug when I was about six years old in 1974. The look of shock and horror in her eyes and on her face and the way that she immediately started asking me questions told me that something serious had going on when all I did was just do what my dad did every day when he popped into the house for a quick visit.

The irony and far reaching impact of this story right here in my life is just one of 1000 stories that shaped who I became just like you have 1000 stories inside of you that are worth at least understanding to make sure that the stories that you’ve ended up telling yourself are still serving. Is your thought loop productive relative to your pursuit of having a happy and enjoyable life and getting after your own personal greatness.

Yes, trauma integration can be very difficult, as it involves confronting painful memories and emotions associated with a traumatic experience, often requiring a person to re-experience aspects of the trauma while learning to process and integrate it into their life narrative, which can be emotionally challenging and overwhelming; it’s considered a complex process that may take time and professional support to navigate effectively.

Key points about the difficulty of trauma integration:

Emotional intensity:

Facing the raw emotions connected to the trauma can lead to intense feelings of sadness, anger, fear, and shame, which can be difficult to manage.

Physical sensations:

Trauma can be stored in the body, leading to physical sensations like tension, pain, or changes in breathing patterns when revisiting the experience.

Dissociation:

Some people may experience dissociation during trauma processing, which can make it challenging to stay present and engaged with the therapeutic process.

Triggering situations:

Everyday situations or reminders can trigger flashbacks or intense emotions, making it difficult to maintain stability.

Need for self-regulation skills:

Learning to manage emotions and regulate physiological responses is crucial for trauma integration, which can be a significant challenge.

For many people, my age, I have noticed that turning 50 was a time of reflection and a realization of mortality and old age coming. How much of that is socialization or just understanding a little bit about human lifespan I’m not sure, but it was a common experience for many people as it turns out after having told my story of quitting alcohol at the age of 50.

For me, it was a clear crossroads that I had a choice to make, and that was either I needed to double down, unaccepting, faith, or go the other direction of self-destruction.

It was

Gratitude

Or

Death.

It was either a reinvention or a slow crash and burn.

That is the choice that the bald eagle must make when it’s beak no longer serves its purpose. Its feathers are worn, and its talons are weak.

It’s time to go to the mountain and break this beak off, grow a new one and get to work like Captain Kirk.

To me, this makes quitting alcohol a piece of cake, because if I had to cut my own nose off, versus just the figurative times that I cut my own nose off despite my face, I might still be drinking. The reality is, I would’ve cut my nose off if I had to because at that point, I was ready to do whatever it takes to save myself from myself because I had just forgiven myself for all the shit that I never really did anyway.

And what do I have in common with that Eagle right now?

We both are so happy that we doubled down on ourselves and that we did the challenging work to reinvent ourselves and to create Eagle 2.0 or in my case The GratiDude.

And we are both flying high and enjoying this new lease on life and if the Eagle is anything like me, he’s going around, helping some of the older eagles muster up the courage to break off their own and beak.