The video for today has been delayed due to the events in Washington DC. Armed protestors stormed the US Capitol. One took to the place of honor and shouted TRUMP WON.
Others took down the American flag and put up the Trump flag.
This was incited by the president! This day will go down as the darkest day in our history because of what the president has done to this country!
UPDATE
Assault on democracy: Sen. Josh Hawley has blood on his hands in Capitol coup attempt
Kansas City Star
REPUBLICANS KNEW TRUMP’S FRAUD CLAIMS WERE BOGUS
Just before the putsch began, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said sadly that we need to once again work from an agreed upon set of facts. Only now has he noticed that lying to the public on a daily basis poisons democracy.
“People have taken this too far,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said on Fox News. Until he had to run for cover, McCarthy was fine with this sick stunt.
U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, a Republican from Kentucky, said in a statement, “Today’s events at the U.S. Capitol are tragic, outrageous, and devastating. They are wholly inconsistent with the values of our constitutional Republic.”
Yes, they are. But they are wholly consistent with Trump’s calls to overturn this election to address nonexistent fraud. And they are wholly predictable, given the willingness of most Republicans to repeat these baseless claims. read more here
After you survived and PTSD started to take hold, did you ever wish you could be "normal" again? Why? Normal is a relative term and most people, no matter how hard they try, they are really not what they pretend to be. Plus, there is nothing "normal" about surviving what you survived.
Today there are two featured videos. One is from the Lion King, with Pumbaa and Timon.
I wanted to see what the names meant and the best one came up on Wiki...
As with many characters in The Lion King, Pumbaa's name derives from the East African language Swahili. In Swahili, pumbaa (v.) means "to be foolish, silly, weakminded, careless, negligent." Timon is one of the few characters whose name has no meaning in Swahili; Timon is a historical Greek name, taken to mean "he who respects." Timon's name may derive from Shakespeare's tragedy Timon of Athens, another Shakespeare reference in a film which derives its plot from Hamlet. A more likely explanation is that he is named after the Greek philosopher Timon, a disciple of Pyrrho, the founder of the school of scepticism.
They were not "normal" but as with most movies, the heroes are usually much different than the others. They stopped trying to fit in and decided to live true to themselves.
When you were in school, "C" meant you were average...while a "B" meant you were better and "A" meant you excelled at something...so, not normal.
Every achievement came from people who were not what was considered normal. They were artist, writers, creators of something that had not been before, visionaries, inventors, but above all, never willing to settle for "normal" in anything..
Did you ever wonder why most movies about outcasts ended up being hits? Because most people are actually different...like in the movie Shrek. That is the second video after Shrek gets married and all the misfits have a huge party, singing I'm A Believer.
Embrace the fact that you are not normal so you can set higher standards of reaching out for happiness as a non-normal survivor. Besides, as these movies prove, it is a lot more fun not being normal because most people are more like you than you think they are.
When I was a kid my Mom would take one look at me, see the neon sign on my forehead, and know something was wrong. She would ask, "what's the matter" or "what are you hiding" or "what did you do" and most of the time, she'd get the question right. No matter how hard I tried to hide it, I'd have to confess. Then there were times when she was totally wrong. She would blame me for something my brother did. No matter how hard I tried to prove my innocence, it didn't work. Sooner of later, my brother would fess up and tell the truth. Usually that happened after I had already been punished. Trust was eroded.
As a grown up, we try to hide stuff too. We try to hide what we are thinking, more than we try to hide what we're doing. When you have PTSD, you may want to believe you are hiding your pain but, the people in your life notice the difference. They end up judging you, believing you turned into a jerk, and then, they judge themselves.
Your masquerade isn't working. The time to come clean about what is going on is right now. Covering up your pain leaves them to assume all sorts of things, and none of them add up to the fact you survived something they will never fully understand, or even begin to, unless you stop the masquerade.
That is why today the featured video is George Benson, Masquerade.
It will be a lot easier on you if you open up and tell them what is going on, because sooner or later, someone will stand by your side, and help you heal so you can be yourself again.
Remember, it is your life...get in and drive it!
#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD
This Masquerade
George Benson
Are we really happy here
With this lonely game we play?
Looking for words to say
Searching but not finding understanding anywhere
We're lost in a masquerade
Both afraid to say we're just too far away
From being close together from the start
We tried to talk it over but the words got in the way
We're lost inside this lonely game we play
Thoughts of leaving disappear
Every time I see your eyes
No matter how hard I try
To understand the reasons that we carry on this way
What are your dreams? Not the ones you have when you are asleep, but the dreams you have when you are awake. Do you still have any? Has PTSD robbed you of your imagination in a hopeful way, because it is too occupied with doom and gloom?
The thing is, you have the power to change all of it.
The Boston Marathon bombing is a good example of that. People lined up to cheer on runners from all over the world. That was all they were focused on. They did not know evil joined them that day. They did not see the two bombers placing the backpacks down and walking away.
(CNN)
Here is a look at the Boston Marathon terror attack. On April 15, 2013, double bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon killed three people and injured at least 264.
Facts
The bombs exploded 12 seconds apart near the marathon’s finish line on Boylston Street.
According to Richard DesLauriers, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston office, the bombs contained BB-like pellets and nails.
In those 12 seconds, hundreds of people rushed to help the wounded not knowing if another bomb would blow up or not. The second bomb blew up, and even more people responded to even more wounded.
That is what they decided to do with the power they had after something evil happened to them. But the acts of compassion did not end there. People from around the world donated to help the survivors.
War veterans, who lost their own limbs visited the wounded who lost limbs to encourage them that life is not over, even though they were dealing with their own inner wounds.
Boston University took a look at how this hit veterans afterwards, "Of those interviewed, 38 percent reported that they were emotionally distressed by the bombing and the subsequent lockdown of Boston and other communities. A majority of the participants said that the bombing caused them to experience flashbacks and the re-emergence of unwanted memories relating to their own past traumas."
When someone survives, they have a choice to make. Do they just suffer living like a victim, or do they do something about it so that surviving doesn't have to suck for other people...and in turn, heal themselves?
We have an example of that when a survivor was interviewed by Associated Press Post-pandemic PTSD? Lessons from a marathon bombing survivor. Bobby O'Donnell said his injury was in is head. He went on to run more marathons and wrote a book to help empower others to "dream on!"
He wrote a book, Running Wild, but because of the pandemic, he knew there would be many more struggling to heal.
AP: Yours is the story of someone who suffered PTSD and invisible wounds from the terror attack in 2013, and how you were able to overcome that. But now fast-forward to 2020, and it feels like a lot of people potentially could be suffering.
O’Donnell: Telling people to stay inside and completely disrupting their daily lives ... mental health is going to be a huge ripple effect that comes out of this. Emergency rooms are going to struggle to deal with psychiatric issues, because we’re telling people to not go to the hospital. People who normally would go out to seek help are now afraid to go into this environment. It’s an important time to be checking up on your own mental health. Just because you think that someone’s gone through something worse than you have, it doesn’t devalue the trauma or distress that you’ve had.
Do you want to settle for doom and gloom now, or do you want to dream about what you can do to make a difference because you know exactly how they feel?
You can change tomorrow for yourself and then change it for others too! Now that is a powerful to dream on!
There are things no one can take away from you. You have to give it to them. One of them is power over your life. When someone hurts you, and you hang onto that pain, anger, judgment while constantly trying to figure out why they treated you that way, you give them power over your life. They continue to inflict pain, because you gave them that power.
The good news is, as soon as you decide that you are no longer willing to give them a place in your life, they lose! Basically, you choose when they lose. This is why the feature video today is Whitney Houston, The Greatest Love Of All.
Too many times we're all hurt by people and then wonder why they did it to us. Was it personal? Was it a matter of being in the wrong place at the right time for them to attack us? Did they believe a lie about us? Were they so miserable they wanted everyone else to be that way too? Were they jealous of us? Those are questions that you may want to be answered, but the truth is, it really shouldn't matter to you at all. The only thing you have the power to do, is choose how you respond afterwards.
At the end of the day, you have only yourself to answer for. What you believe, what you do, how you think, how you act and how you live your life, is all up to you. You control no one else. No one else controls you, unless you allow it.
It is hard for everyone but having PTSD makes it harder to hang onto your dignity and hope. The last thing you need is to have someone you know making you feel worse.
If they mistreat you, betray you, judge you, walk away from you, they deserve no place in your life because they have proven you do not matter to them. Maybe they are so miserable in their own life, they only feel better about themselves by making someone else miserable.
If they stand by you, help you, care about, want you to be happy, they earned a place in your life because they proved they care about you and you do matter to them.
The Greatest Love Of All
Whitney Houston
I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be
Everybody searching for a hero
People need someone to look up to
I never found anyone who fulfill my needs
A lonely place to be
And so I learned to depend on me
I decided long ago
Never to walk in anyone's shadows
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I'll live as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can't take away my dignity
Because the greatest love of all
Is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
It is the greatest love of all
I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier
Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be
I decided long ago
Never to walk in anyone's shadows
If I fail, if I succeed
At least I'll live as I believe
No matter what they take from me
They can't take away my dignity
Because the greatest love of all
Is happening to me
I found the greatest love of all
Inside of me
The greatest love of all
Is easy to achieve
Learning to love yourself
Is the greatest love of all
And if, by chance, that special place
That you've been dreaming of
Leads you to a lonely place
Find your strength in love
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Linda Creed / Michael Masser
And if you have someone in your life who loves you, then you are blessed. If not, then believe someday, when you are healed and ready for it, love will find you again. First you need to learn how to love yourself. You cannot give them love if you do not know what it is, but once you learn, you will be happy to give them a place in your life...and all the love you have.
Remember, it is your life...get in and drive it!
#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD
I believe in you and me
I believe that we will be in love eternally
Well, as far as I can see
You will always be the one for me
Oh yes, you will
And I believe in dreams again
I believe that love will never end
And like the river finds the sea
I was lost, now I'm free
'Cause I believe In you and me
I will never leave your side
I will never hurt your pride
When all the chips are down, baby
Then I will always be around
Just to be right where you are
My love, you know I love you, boy
I will never leave you out
I will always let you in, oh baby
To places no one's ever been
Deep inside
Can't you see that I believe in you and me
Maybe I'm a fool to feel the way I do
I will play the fool forever
Just to be with you forever
I believe in miracles
And love's the miracle
And yes, baby you're my dream come true
I was lost, now I'm free
Oh, baby 'cause I believe, I do believe in you and me
