The best time to seek help is NOW!

PTSD Patrol

Kathie Costos

April 3, 2021

Today is a good day to focus on what happened in Washington on January 6, because yesterday was a reminder of it when another Capitol Police Officer William Evans was killed and another was injured to the point where he had to be hospitalized.

There is so much that does not get covered when major news stories come out and that is how so many people who were not there, will also see their lives changed because they cared about the people who were involved.

Mother of injured Capitol officer: What my son went through will leave an imprint on my mind forever

NBC News

All have mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, sisters and brothers, and children who will experience the traumatic impact associated with this day for a very long time.

KAKE News
Opinion by Theresa J. Fanone
Thursday, April 1st 2021

Donald Trump recently said that his supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 were "hugging and kissing" police officers and posed "zero threat."

My experience of that day, and every day since, has been significantly different.

My son, Michael Fanone, is a 20 year veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department, assigned to the First District. I knew there was a rally planned for Jan. 6. All leave had been canceled. This was to be an "all hands on deck" event. Michael was scheduled to work his regular shift but left for work early that day.

I had been listening and watching on television the speeches at Trump's "Save America" rally. More and more, my anxiety grew as I saw the enormous crowd and listened to the negativity and tone of the rhetoric expressed by all speakers. For me, it evoked fear and sounded like the speakers were advocating for a threatening confrontation.

Terror, horror, anger, fear and rage do not begin to capture the emotions I felt that day, wondering which police officer's face belonged to my son. I prayed --- for my son and all the sons, daughters, fathers and mothers who were present that day. Watching the beatings, suffering, fear and confusion on these officers' faces will leave an indelible imprint on my mind forever.
read more here

There were 800 people who stormed into the Capitol and every member of the House and Senate, plus their staff, were terrorized by them, but all of them had people who care about them watching and worrying while helplessly watching it on TV. Families of the officers trying to protect the Capitol were also watching it happen. Many of them have the same emotional price as Officer Fanone's Mom.

And then there are the people who care about those who decided to do this terrible thing. How many of them will be changed by what they witnessed their family members did? How do you come to terms with any of this?

California man charged with attacking officer with stun weapon in Capitol riot
NBC News
By Phil Helsel
April 1, 2021

A Southern California man has been indicted on charges that he attacked a police officer with an "electroshock weapon" during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, prosecutors said Thursday.

Daniel Rodriguez, 38, of Fontana, was arrested Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said.

He is accused of attacking Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone during the assault on the Capitol as Congress was formally counting the electoral votes affirming President Joe Biden's win.

Fanone has described being beaten by the mob and shocked with a stun gun repeatedly, and he has said some in the crowd chanted, "Kill him with his own gun."

"I was being beaten with a thin blue line flag — which, you know, how ironic is that?" Fanone told NBC Washington in January. The flag is generally seen as supportive of law enforcement. He said he suffered a mild heart attack. read more here 

We may never know the true numbers of people who had their lives changed in those horrible hours. What we do know is that there will be many emotional wounds and will be in need of help to heal those scars. This was a mass casualty event.

The sooner you seek help to heal, the better your recovery will be. You had no control over what happened and as hard as it is to believe, you did not control what others decided to do. You only have the power to do what you can from every moment afterwards.

The best time to seek help is NOW!

Remember, it is your life...get in and drive it!

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD

Don't Dream It's Over Live (HQ)

Crowded House

There is freedom within

There is freedom without

Try to catch the deluge in a paper cup

There's a battle ahead

Many battles are lost

But you'll never see the end of the road

While you're travelling with me

Hey now, hey now

Don't dream it's over

Hey now, hey now

When the world comes in

They come, they come

To build a wall between us

We know they won't win

Now I'm towing my car

There's a hole in the roof

My possessions are causing me suspicion

But there's no proof

In the paper today

Tales of war and of waste

But you turn right over to the TV page

Hey now, hey now

Don't dream it's over

Hey now, hey now

When the world comes in

They come, they come

To build a wall between us

We know they won't win

Now I'm walking again

To the beat of a drum

And I'm counting the steps to the door of your heart

Only shadows ahead

Barely clearing the roof

Get to know the feeling of liberation and release

Hey now, hey now

Don't dream it's over

Hey now, hey now

When the world comes in

They come, they come

To build a wall between us

You know they won't win

Don't let them win (Hey now, hey now)

Hey now, hey now

Hey now, hey now

Don't let them win (They come, they come)

Don't let them win (Hey now, hey now), yeah

Hey now, hey now

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Finn Neil Mullane

Don’t Dream It’s Over lyrics © Roundhead Music

No video from me today. I have to put together a new desk for the office and I'm a mess!

When PTSD is trying to run your life...crush it!

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
April 2, 2021

Did you know that PTSD will keep controlling your life until you do? That's right! You can crush it if you decide that it doesn't get to control you anymore and #TakeBackYourLife from PTSD!

Today the featured video is Sunshine by Jonathan Edwards because PTSD wants you to tell the sunshine to just go away. It doesn't want any light to enter into your life, it wants you do stay miserable. 

One of the lines is, "he's got cards he ain't showing" and that is the secret of defeating PTSD. It has a weaker hand than it wants you to think it does. You have been led to think he has all the Aces, but they are all still in the deck and waiting for you to find them.

As soon as you start to talk about it, start to fight to find hope and let it begin to fill you up again, it starts to get crushed. The more you heal, the more it gets pushed out of your life.

Consider Lt. Justin Jensen as a reason to get help and take control over your own life.  He tried different things, after he stopped trying to deny he needed help and then didn't give up on finding what worked for him!

Lt. Justin Jensen pauses for a portrait while talking about his bouts with post traumatic stress disorder March 3 at the Burley Fire Department. Jensen recently received a firefighter of the year award. 'I was a ticking time bomb with a short fuse that had been lit and then re-lit,' he said.
DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS

Triumphing over PTSD: Burley firefighter wins Firefighter of the Year award
Magic Valley
Laurie Welch
34 min ago

Justin Jensen felt stunned when he was named Firefighter of Year by the Professional Fire Fighters of Idaho after spending the past year clashing with demons brought to life by post-traumatic stress disorder.

“It’s our most prestigious award that recognizes one of our own,” Rob Shoplock, a firefighter with the Eagle Fire Department and vice president of the firefighters’ union. As vice president, Shoplock lobbies for industry changes with state lawmakers.

The organization presented the award to Jensen on Feb. 22 during a virtual conference.

The award left the 44-year-old Burley man feeling emotional, overwhelmed and without words, something he said he hopes to remedy with a speech during next year’s conference.
read more here

Remember, it is your life...get in and drive it!
Justin tried to get help to heal and found it. So can you!

Sunshine

Jonathan Edwards 

Sunshine go away today

I don't feel much like dancing

Some man's gone, he's tried to run my life

Don't know what he's asking

He tells me I'd better get in line

Can't hear what he's saying

When I grow up I'm going to make it mine

But these aren't dues I been paying

How much does it cost, I'll buy it

The time is all we've lost, I'll try it

But he can't even run his own life

I'll be damned if he'll run mine, Sunshine

Sunshine go away today

I don't feel much like dancing

Some man's gone he's tried to run my life

Don't know what he's asking

Working starts to make me wonder where

The fruits of what I do are going

He says in love and war all is fair

But he's got cards he ain't showing

How much does it cost, I'll buy it

The time is all we've lost, I'll try it

But he can't even run his own life

I'll be damned if he'll run mine, Sunshine

Sunshine come on back another day

I promise you I'll be singing

This old world, she's gonna turn around

Brand new bells'll be ringing

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Jonathan Edwards

Sunshine lyrics © Castle Hill Publishing Ltd., Castle Hill Publishing Ltd 

PTSD Patrol thanks you for lifting others Higher And Higher

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
April 1, 2021

Today's video was chosen for two reasons. The first one is, to say thank you! Thank you for passing this work on because PTSD Patrol has passed 91,000 page views. That would not have happened if you were not passing this work along and letting others know that their lives can be better. The other reason is to remind you that your own healing can be lifting you "Higher And Higher" too!

There is no limit to your healing. Even if you think life is good enough for you, it can be even better when you help someone else. Lifting them up lifts you. There is no price you can put on that feeling, knowing you changed someone's life for the better. They turn around and change the lives of others in their life and hopefully, change the lives of strangers too.

I am often reminded that I'll never know how many people I reach with this work, but the only way they are reached is for others to share it and you blessed me doing that!

Now once, I was downhearted disappointment was my closest friend

But you came, he soon departed and he never showed his face again

My life is not just blessed, but you also blessed others by giving them hope and letting them know their own life doesn't have to be filled with doom and gloom.

Remember, it is your life...get in and drive it!

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD

Higher And Higher

Your love is liftin me higher, than I've ever been lifted before.

Your love is liftin me higher, than I've ever been lifted before

So keep it up, quench my desire and I'll be at your side forever more

Now once, I was downhearted disappointment was my closest friend

But you came, he soon departed and he never showed his face again

I'm so glad I finally found you, your that one in a million man

When you wrap your lovin arms around me

I can stand up and face the world again

Your love is liftin me higher than I've ever been lifted before (higher)

So keep it up, quench my desire

And I'll be at your side forever more (higher)

(Repeat x3)

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Gary Jackson / Raynard Miner / Carl Smith

(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher lyrics © Warner-tamerlane Publishing Corp., Unichappell Music Inc., Mijac Music 

when we don't give up, we "do"

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
March 31, 2021

When I see people dancing on the ice, I am always amazed. I cannot understand how they do it. Every time I put on a pair, (when I was young) I fell way too much. Besides, I am lucky I can walk without tripping on air.

Today I am taking the day off from doing a video. As a gift, the featured video is Gladys Knight and the Pips, I Hope You Dance and they performed this while a woman dances on ice and in the air.

There are times when things are hard for us and we wish that we could do things we cannot do. Then there are things we can do if someone helps us. Someone teaches us what is hard for us to learn. Other times we understand things easily and we can teach someone else. The thing is, when we don't give up, we "do" what we can and rejoice for those who can do more.

I am not diminished by what others accomplish, nor am I uplifted because others cannot do what I do. I have learned to accept my limitations and quit turning everything into a contest.

If you are struggling with PTSD, then do not be jealous of those who were with you, or others you met later after they experienced similar events, but seem happier than you are, any more than you should look down on others struggling harder than you are. This is not a contest. This is a team effort where you get help where and when you need it, and pass on help, where and when you can.

Remember, it is your life...get in and drive it!

#BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD

I Hope You Dance

Gladys Knight 

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder

You get your fill to eat

But always keep that hunger

May you never take one single breath for granted

God forbid love ever leave you empty handed

I hope you still feel small

When you stand by the ocean

Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens

Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance

I hope you dance

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance

Never settle for the path of least resistance

Living might mean taking chances

But they're worth taking

Lovin' might be a mistake

But it's worth making

Don't let some hell bent heart

Leave you bitter

When you come close to selling out

Reconsider

Give the heavens above

More than just a passing glance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance

(Time is a real and constant motion always)

I hope you dance

(Rolling us along)

I hope you dance

(Tell me who)

I hope you dance

(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)

(Where those years have gone)

I hope you still feel small

When you stand by the ocean

Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens

Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

Dance

I hope you dance

I hope you dance

(Time is a real and constant motion always)

I hope you dance

(Rolling us along)

I hope you dance

(Tell me who)

(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)

I hope you dance

(Where those years have gone)

I hope you dance

(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)

(Where those years have gone)

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Sanders Mark Daniel / Sillers Tia Maria

I Hope You Dance lyrics © Sony/atv Melody, Choice Is Tragic Music, Soda Creek Songs, Mca Music Publishing, A.d.o. Universal Studios

A veteran shares how music therapy has helped him live with PTSD, and how he's now hoping to give back to others that are struggling. We also learn more about what PTSD is and what symptoms someone might be struggling with.

For more on the MUSICRx Foundation: www.musicrxfoundation.org

where changes they see in you came from

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
March 30, 2021

Are you celebrating Easter this year? Are you doing the Easter Bunny and chocolate eggs kind of celebrating, or the life of Jesus, His Death and Resurrection type of celebrating? If you celebrate the rest of the year the secular way, then why not celebrate the rest of the year the Holy Way? The secular way won't keep you full, comforted and happy all year but the Holy Way will. After all, it is a happier way to live.

This is Holy Week for most Christians. I am Greek Orthodox, and our's begins May 2.  It is a time that we reflect on the life of Jesus and His Sacrifice for the rest of us. Hundreds of years before His birth, it was in the Scriptures.

Isaiah 53

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.

9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Did he see the future in a dream, or did God tell him what he would not live long enough to see?

Today there is a special video I wanted to share. It is by the group Yes, And You And I.

Commentary on YES, And You And I

1. A man conceived a moment’s answers to the dream.
“The dream” What is “The dream?” This is the key factor in this verse.

One of the constant factors in mystical religious material across all generations, across all centuries and across all religions is the notion that the universe is God's dream, and that we all live our lives in that dream. For those of you who scoff, the Bible itself is clear about this. Before he creates the temple in the book of Exodus, Moses is taught by YHWH how to build it. YHWH shows him the real temple, the temple in Heaven, and God tells him to make the earthly temple as a copy of the real temple. In 1 Corinthians, St. Paul talks about how we now see through a glass darkly, as though we are peering through the fog and cannot truly see the real picture of truth or God. Eventually we will see him--God, face to face. It's just like being in a dream.

Formerly, we were dead in our trespasses and sins, but now we are alive. That is a more powerful image than the notion of a dream. To be dead and become alive is very similar to being asleep and becoming awake.

Now you know what the song means. 

Think of your own life. How many times have you looked at other people and thought they are dead inside? I see cranky people all the time and wonder if they are having a bad day, or if they ever had a good one in their lifetime.

I see politicians making speeches and think how horrible it is that they seem so proud of themselves, while lying and doing evil things with their power. Look at their eyes and see how they let their soul be slaughtered in exchange for power. Yet even they are not beyond redemption to God. If He will still forgive them, and love them, why would think He couldn't forgive and love you too?

If PTSD is eating up hope, then remember that. Remember the miracles Jesus delivered and the messages He came to share from God. Then remember that He came to pay for our sins so that we would find forgiveness, but also, so that we would know that we are loved!

Just because you may have been involved in something terrible, that does not make you terrible.

Because you may have terrible thoughts, that does not mean that is all you are capable of thinking.

Because you cannot feel love as deeply as you once did, that does not mean you will never be able to.

People see you've changed but they do not understand where it came from. They have no way of knowing unless you talk to them. If they are changes for the worse, like your unhappiness or anger, they wonder what they did wrong. They may not want to be around you anymore. If they see you change to be happier and more patient, then they want to be around you.

All you are going through means "for now," but does not have to be all there is for you in the next moment. It is like being asleep, walking through your life, until you can become awakened and live a happier life.

Besides, someone is praying for you right now so that you can tell others where changes they see in you came from....God's LOVE!

(I misspoke in this video and said that Isaiah wrote about it in the Bible...but I meant Scriptures. That is what happens with a no edit, no notes video. Forgive me.)

Remember, it is your life...get in and drive it! #BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife from #PTSD

And You And I

YES

A man conceived a moment's answer to the dream

Staying the flowers daily, sensing all the themes

As a foundation left to create the spiral aim

A movement regained and regarded both the same

All complete in the sight of seeds of life with you

Changed only for a sight of sound, the space agreed

Between the picture of time behind the face of need

Coming quickly to terms of all expression laid

Emotions revealed as the ocean maid

All complete in the sight of seeds of life with you

Coins and crosses never know their fruitless worth

Cords are broken, locked inside the mother earth

They won't hide, oh, they won't tell you

Watching the world, watching all of the world

Watching us go by

And you and I climb over the sea to the valley

And you and I reached out for reasons to call

Coming quickly to terms of all expression laid

Emotions revealed as the ocean maid

As a movement regained and regarded both the same

All complete in the sight of seeds of life with you

Sad preacher nailed upon the coloured door of time

Insane teacher be there reminded of the rhyme

There'll be no mutant enemy we shall certify

Political ends, as sad remains, will die

Reach out as forward tastes begin to enter you

I listened hard but could not see

Life tempo change out and inside me

The preacher trained in all to lose his name

The teacher travels, asking to be shown the same

In the end we'll agree, we'll accept, we'll immortalize

That the truth of man maturing in his eyes

All complete in the sight of seeds of life with you

Coming quickly to terms of all expression laid

As a moment regained and regarded both the same

Emotion revealed as the ocean maid

A clearer future, morning, evening, nights with you

And you and I climb, crossing the shapes of the morning

And you and I reach over the sun for the river

And you and I climb, clearer towards the movement

And you and I called over valleys of endless seas

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Jon Anderson / Chris Squire / Steve Howe / Bill Bruford