Last edited Fri Jun 13, 2025, 12:08 PM - Edit history (2)
I had a conversation today in the super with a very old woman who insisted I listen. I didn't want to, but continued packing my groceries while listening. She was from an obscure country, which got my attention because I'd only met 1 other person from there my entire life. She needed an ear. She told me she lived here since the 50s, that she was captured in 1944 and held by the Americans, but her father was captured by the Nazis and executed the next week. Her and her mother eventually made it to the US, have lived sheltered lives in her church community. Ever since.
I thought she had slight dementia, but forced myself to respond with grace at touchstone points. She enjoyed the chat, she hopes I meet more people from her country, we wished each other well. She broods with her history, obviously, it is part of her. She wanted to tell another person, one more person, of her life. Maybe she understands what is happening in the world and hopes she can make a difference. I met the day. I feel good. Even in posting this, I meet the day.
So do you, Koz. Our pasts are with us. We must remember the good times, as best we can.
Update: This is what I mean when I say our experiences are imprinted on us physically:
How to Release ‘Emotional Baggage’ and the Tension That Goes with It
https://www.healthline.com/health/mind-body/how-to-release-emotional-baggage-and-the-tension-that-goes-with-it
Though some may refer to trauma being “stored” or “trapped” in the body, that isn’t necessarily a scientific way to put it.
However, the symptoms of traumatic stress can manifest physically. This may be because the brain associates this area with a particular memory — often on a subconscious level.
Mark Olson, PhD, LMT, the owner and director of the Pacific Center for Awareness & Bodywork, believes activating certain areas of the body may trigger these memories.
“Emotions are constantly being generated — subconsciously or consciously — in response to the reactivation of memories or unsatisfied goals,” Olson says. “The touch to X area is simply a reliable stimulus to reconstruct the pattern associated with that traumatic event.”
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