S2E4: with Sarah Baxter : On Inviting Curiosity and Play Into The Healing Process.
The relationship between trauma, PTSD and chronic illness is one that lives in a cycle. Whilst many who have experienced trauma/who experience PTSD will also go on to develop chronic illness, the very living with a chronic illness can be traumatic. It’s an aspect that’s perhaps not very well acknowledged, and therefore not addressed and often I see the two existing in a bit of a feedback loop.
Sarah and I met around 10 years ago, when we both worked at a design company. Throughout the years, we’ve kept in touch and, thanks to the power of the internet, I’ve watched, fascinated, as she works through, understands and processes her C-PTSD using her skills as a designer and artist to support her. She’s now in a place where she can approach what once felt too much, with curiosity, and is open to discovering what her findings are here to show or teach her. She’s recently been experimenting with her dreams, and talks about how she’s doing it in some really cool ways.
LISTEN HERE:
SARAH’S LINKS:
The Bungaloo Instagram
OTHER LINKS:
Carl Jung - A Very Short Introduction by Anthony Stevens
MY LINKS:
EPISODE NOTES
4:26 - Receiving a C-PTSD ‘diagnosis’.
10:47 - Expressing & processing through creativity - understanding signals.
16:27 - Viewing C-PTSD with curiosity and seeing it as a superpower.
17:10 - The opportunity to use an external motivator/external accountability to process night terrors and create art from it, without the expectation of it being ‘good art’.
20:44 - Paying more attention to dreams as information. Using dream herbs to access deeper levels of the subconscious.
21:04 - Book ref; a short introduction to Carl Jung - analysing your dreams and checking in with yourself.
26:58 - Tree Carr, dream herbs and lucid dreaming.
33:57 - Approaching with curiosity, letting go of the sh*t and allowing yourself to be who you are.
38:07 - Being triggered and working through what follows.
36:01 - Bringing fun into the healing journey with herbal and floral cocktails.