PTSD Patrol what are friends for?

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
October 25, 2020

What are friends for? Some people will point to their Facebook "friends" and say they have thousands. Well, I know a lot of people, but I only have a few I would call friend. Most people will say that same thing when they are being honest.

Is a friend someone who will help you move? Or would they say, "let me know what your new address is" because they want to send you a Christmas card?

Is a friend someone who will go to the store for you when you are not well, or do they tell you can get delivery?

Is a friend someone who will spend time with you, listen to you when you are depressed or lonely...or do they tell you to call them when you are feeling better?

So how many can you call friend now? Can they call you friend when they need someone to be there for them? That is what friends are for.

When they have PTSD, they are feeling as if they do not deserve anyone to care about them. That feeling grows deeper the longer it goes on and more people turn away from them. Are you reenforcing that by letting their calls go to voice mail? Are you feeding it by telling them you are tired of hearing the same story over and over again and it is time for them to "get over it" no matter what it is?

Real friends are there in bad times, as well as good ones. They are there to make you feel as if you matter to them. If your friend is hurting, then let them know they do matter to you! #BreakTheSilence and tell them you'll be there to help them #TakeBackYourLife for as long as it takes!

And I never thought I'd feel this way

And as far as I'm concerned

I'm glad I got the chance to say

That I do believe, I love you

And if I should ever go away

Well, then close your eyes and try

To feel the way we do today

And then if you can remember

Keep smiling, keep shining

Knowing you can always count on me, for sure

That's what friends are for

For good times and bad times

I'll be on your side forever more

That's what friends are for

Well, you came in loving me

And now there's so much more I see

And so by the way

I thank you

Oh and then for the times when we're apart

Well, then close your eyes and know

The words are coming from my heart

And then if you can remember

Keep smiling and keep shining

Knowing you can always count on me, for sure

That's what friends are for

In good times and bad times

I'll be on your side forever more

That's what friends are for

Keep smiling, keep shining

Knowing you can always count on me, for sure

That's what friends are for

For good times and bad times

I'll be on your side forever more

That's what friends are for

Keep smiling, keep shining

Knowing you can always count on me, for sure

Cause I tell you, that's what friends are for

Whoa, good times and the bad times

I'll be on your side forever more

That's what friends are for

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Burt F Bacharach / Carole Bayer Sager / Burt Bacharach / Carol Bayer Sager

That's What Friends Are For lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc, BMG Rights Management, Royalty Network 

PTSD Patrol "If I Could"

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
October 24, 2020

When your child is suffering, it breaks your heart. It doesn't matter how old they are, they always your child. The worst thing is when you feel helpless. You want to help but you don't know what is eating at them. You want to listen but they are holding back what is causing them pain.

Maybe they don't want to worry you or disappoint you. Then again, the pain may be so deep, they don't know how to put it into words.

Too many Moms I have talked to over the years said the things that are in today's feature video, after the child they loved committed suicide. That pain for them never ends. The questions never end because the only person who could answer them, decided to leave without answering.

"If I Could" was written by Barbra Streisand for her son, and the lyrics explain what Moms want to tell their children, no matter how old they are.

If you are worried but they will not open up to you, then send them the link to the song to let them know you are there for them no mater what it is.

#BreakTheSilence and tell them they can #TakeBackYourLife to heal.

Regina Belle- If I Could (1996) 

If I could

I'd protect you from the sadness in your eyes

Give you courage in a world of compromise

Yes, I would

If I could

I would teach you all the things I never learned

And I'd help you cross the bridges that I burned

Yes, I would

If I could

I would try to shield your innocence from time

But the part of life I gave you isn't mine

I watched you grow

So I could let you go

If I could

I would help you make it through the hungry years

But I know that I can never cry your tears

But I would

If I could

If I live

In a time and place

Where you don't want to be

You don't have to walk along this road with me

My yesterday

Won't have to be your way

If I knew

I'd have tried to change the world I brought you to

Through there wasn't very much that I could do

But I still would

If I could

If, if I could

I would try to shield your innocence from time

But the part of life I gave you isn't mine.

I watched you grow

So I could let you go

If I could

I would help you make it through the hungry years

But I know that I can never cry your tears

But I would

If I could

Yes, I would

Yes, I would

If I could

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Kenneth Hirsch / Ron Miller / Marti Sharron / Kenny Hirsch / Ronald Norman Miller 

If I Could lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

PTSD Patrol healing is not an "Impossible Dream"

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
October 23, 2020

"To run where the brave dare not go" is where we are. "To fight the unbeatable foe" is what we are doing right now because we know it is not an "Impossible Dream" to beat the enemy of PTSD.

Originally I was doing a message that left me depressed. It was about the sad outcome for far too many, but as it says in the Bible Mark 12:27 "He is not God of the dead, but the God of the living,"

Miracles happen all the time, no matter how impossible we may think they are to achieve. When the scars on our bodies heal, new skin comes in. When the scars of our hearts heal, new comes in. We are able to let go of a lot of things, to forgive when there was a time we thought we'd never be able to do it. We can experience a much happier life the we dreamt was possible.

Nothing is impossible unless we are willing to accept what is, just because someone told us that was all there was. We have too many examples of what is possible to inspire us.

To dream the impossible dream

To fight the unbeatable foe

To bear with unbearable sorrow

And to run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong

And to love pure and chaste from afar

To try when your arms are to weary

To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest

To follow that star

Ooh, no matter how hopeless

No matter how far

To fight for the right

Without question or pause

To be willing to march, march into hell

For that heavenly cause

And I know

If I'll only be true

To this glorious quest

That my heart

Will lie peaceful and calm

When I'm laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this

Oh, that one man, scorned and covered with scars

Still strong with his last ounce of courage

To reach the unreachable, the unreachable

The unreachable star

Yeah, and I'll always dream

The impossible dream

Yes, and I'll reach

The unreachable star

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Leigh Mitch / Darion Joseph

The Impossible Dream lyrics © Helena Music Company, Andrew Scott Music, Helena Music Corp. 

Luther Vandross - The Impossible Dream (Official Live) An Evening of Songs at The Royal Albert Hall 

PTSD Patrol Respect Yourself

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
October 22, 2020

RESPECT YOURSELF is the message of today and the feature video. That is something I had to learn the hard way. In June, I freed myself from all constraints that limited what I could do and say. I stopped trying to prove myself to the veterans community after 38 years of fighting to deliver messages of healing and knowledge about what power they had over PTSD. It became one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

My buddy Gunny and I were talking yesterday and he said he couldn't believe how much I've changed...how much happier I come across on these videos. He's right. People noticed that I learned to respect myself to the point where I was tired of not respecting all I had to give.

If you have PTSD, the chances are pretty great that you lost a lot along the way. Maybe you lost family and friends who turned their backs on you when you were clearly in need of help. Maybe you walked away because you didn't want them to see you as someone to pitty. The thing is, the price you were paying as being a survivor, would have been so much easier to carry if you had people standing by your side. Unfortunatly, that is the way it is most of the time because people cannot open their eyes, or become invested in discovering why you changed. Even if they were, then you were probably limited on what you could explain to them. You'd think with over 8 million Americans going through this, there would be a lot more information to help you do it, but there isn't.

Set all that in your rearview mirror now because you are moving forward. The past is behind you and it is time to learn how to respect yourself. Take a look at all your qualities and abilities. Look at your weaknesses and see what you can do to change them, even if you cannot get rid of them. For me, that is my temper. I have to work on that all the time, but I manage to keep it in control most of the time.

It is time for you to be true to yourself, but the only way to do that is to respect yourself enough to know you are worthy of it! Life is full of surprises when you reach that point and you can end up a lot happier too. If you don't believe how much I've changed, take a look at some of my older videos that I shot down in Florida and see what is poaaible!

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD

Yes this is Bruce Willis and he sings in this video~

If you disrespect anybody that you run in to

How in the world do you think anybody's s'posed to respect you

If you don't give a heck 'bout the man with the bible in his hand, y'all

Just get out the way, and let the gentleman do his thing

You the kind of gentleman that want everything your way, yeah

Take the sheet off your face, boy, it's a brand new day

Respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself

If you don't respect yourself

Ain't nobody gonna give a good cahoot, na na na na

Respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself

If you're walking 'round think'n that the world owes you something 'cause you're here

You goin' out the world backwards like you did when you first come here yeah

Keep talkin' bout the president, won't stop air pollution

Put your hand on your mouth when you cough, that'll help the solution

Oh, you cuss around women and you don't even know their names, no

Then you're dumb enough to think that'll make you a big ol' man

Respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself

If you don't respect yourself

Ain't nobody gonna give a good cahoot, na na na na

Respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself

Respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself

Respect yourself, yeah yeah respect yourself, respect yourself yeah, respect yourself

You oughta you oughta respect yourself yeah, respect yourself

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Luther Thomas Ingram / Mack Rice

Respect Yourself lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Bruce Willis and June Pointer - Respect Yourself (1987)

PTSD Patrol God Save The People

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
October 21, 2020

In 1971 the play Godspell came out and was such a huge hit, they turned it into a movie. The Vietnam War was still going on and there were protests, along with a lot of turmoil. One of my favorite songs is God Save The People. 

Right now, things suck all the way around, and it can seem hopeless, if that is all you focus on. If you open your eyes and see what else is going on, then you regain your faith in your future.

Some people say when things are going wrong and you are suffering, "God only gives us what we can handle" which is totally false. It isn't just false it is harmful because that means God sent the sucky stuff to you, which makes it impossible to pray that God helps you out of it. If you have PTSD then the chance of you praying if you thought God did it to you is just about zero, instead of knowing you survived for a reason...whatever that reason was.

If you left the church, it is OK because a lot of churches left Christ a long time ago. They removed what He taught, what He showed and what He died for. Love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, charity, the list goes on. He totally gets why you don't go to church because frankly, He prayed outside most of the time.

God still saves us and you will see that the next time you go out and look for people doing good things for someone else. Go into a grocery store and watch a clerk taking someone right to what they were looking for. See a fellow shopper reach up to take something down for someone else simply because a stranger needed help. Go to see the donations boxes for food around Thanksgiving. See all the Halloween candy in carts so that the shopper can make some kids happy with tiny treats in their bags.

God's love is all around you and you'll see it if you look for it no matter where you are.

When wilt thou save the people,

Oh, God of Mercy, when?

The people, Lord, the people,

Not thrones and crowns but men!

Flowers of thy heart, O God, are they.

Let them not pass, like weeds, away.

Their heritage a sunless day,

God save the people!

Shall crime bring crime forever,

Strength aiding still the strong?

Is it thy will, O Father,

That men shall toil for wrong?

'NO!' say thy mountains,

'NO!' say thy skies.

Man's clouded sun shall brightly rise,

And songs be heard instead of sighs.

God save the people!

When wilt thou save the people,

Oh, God of Mercy, when?

The people, Lord, the people,

Not thrones and crowns but men!

God save the people, for thine they are,

Thy children, as thy angels, fair,

Oh, save the people from despair!

When wilt thou save the people,

Oh, God of Mercy, when?

The people, Lord, the people,

Not thrones and crowns but men!

God save the people, for thine they are,

Thy children, as thy angels, fair,

Oh, save the people from despair,

God save the people!

Source: Musixmatch 

The Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31-46)

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”