Daily Excerpt: Heart to Heart Resuscitation: My Journal (Victor Montgomery III) - Spiritual Pathway 1

 

Excerpt from Heart to Heart Resuscitation: My Journal by Victor Montgomery III --

 Welcome, Warriors!

 

 

Spiritual Pathways to Freedom

 

People are spiritual beings. We have souls as well as flesh and bones. We all are special in the eyes of God. The Bible says we are made in the image of God. How amazing is that? Whatever a veteran’s belief right now, a power greater than us all can be sought, and learning to pray is where the discovery begins. It is here where life begins again for distressed combat veterans with wounded souls. Right here the suffering, tormented soul can find relief and a reason to live. My technique of heart-to-heart resuscitation provides a safe environment that lays these important foundations and helps veterans prepare for a renewed spirit wanting to embrace life once again. Expect a miracle.

Dr. Edward Tick, the much-sought-after military psychotherapist and author would call many veterans in distress having “soul wounding and soul loss as authentic conditions”.  He further suggests in his writing that the efficacious counselor and facilitator should always encourage "digging deep" with their clients in order to uncover the real story details and emotions and work to transfer the moral weight of the experiences from the individual to the community.

A helpful way to address these concerns is to consider the following spiritual assumptions about trauma and pain:

Glenn R. Schiraldi, PhD., developed skills-based mind/body courses at the University of Maryland that have been found to improve self-esteem, resilience, happiness, optimism, and curiosity, while reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and anger. He offers fundamental evidence in his writing that suggests we may benefit from our suffering and from our triumph over our pain—and in the process become better, happier human beings, realizing that the ultimate value of pain reduction is not comfort, but growth. 

Pain is a great teacher. Yet the greatest teacher imparts little wisdom if the veteran has not the eyes and ears to hear. 

Warriors, if we don't work through the emotions around trauma and stress, they will gradually "eat us up" to the point where many aspects of our life will be negatively impacted forever. The moment to change is now, not tomorrow.

The only requirement to attend the H2HR Pathways Program is the desire and willingness to change your negative thinking and self-destructive behavior and to accept the fact YOU have a problem in the first place. If you are open and willing to listen to other veterans in the group, at the clinic, and to the veteran Life Coaches about the paths they took to create better lives for themselves, you are off to a good start.

-          Vic

 

 

Let’s begin with first things first. Making the Commitment. Finding a Purpose.

First Pathway

We must first admit that our war zone experiences are troubling and unmanageable to us. The combat is over, yet we continue to struggle mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. In fact, most of us share a common thread of experiences, having the same bad memories over and over: Not wanting to get close to anyone, numbing out, wanting to be alone, becoming angry and full of rage easily, and having trouble sleeping. Many of us experience muscles being tight and tense and having a sense of panic shoot through our very being. We have difficulty concentrating and often feel confused, sad, frightened, limp, and depressed. Most of the time, as veteran warriors, we mistrust others and frequently look over our shoulders—nobody there to have our back. We feel alone now. And finally, we hold on to the massive feelings of guilt about surviving the war when so many of our buddies were lost. Let us take a closer look.

Take this important opportunity to answer some very significant, up close and personal questions. These questions and your answers are for your eyes only, unless you choose to share them with others. Let’s get started. (Use the extra journal pages in the back of these sections for more room to write.)

    •     How would you describe in words the powerlessness and unmanageability of your life? Use all the paper you need.

•     Have you seriously damaged your relationships with other people?  If so, list the relationships and how you hurt them.

•      Describe any physical damage that has resulted from your current behaviors.

•      Describe times that you have withdrawn from social interaction and activities and isolated yourself to an extreme degree and why.

•      Describe embarrassing or humiliating incidents in your life. Were they related to your war experiences or memories? If so, how were they related?

•      Describe attempts that you have made in the past to change or control your unmanageable lifestyle. How successful have they been? Do these attempts show the powerlessness that you have over your damaging behaviors?

•      Do you feel any remorse from the ways that you have acted in your life? If so, explain that in detail.

•      Describe any irrational or crazy set of events that have happened since you came home from the war zones. Did you rationalize this behavior? If so, in what way?         

•      Have you avoided people because they did not share in or approve of your lifestyle? If so, list these people and situations.

•      Can you pinpoint one time period in your life when your life began to become extremely unmanageable? If so, describe that period of time and what was happening.

 

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