A portmanteau of neurological and traumatized, neurotraumatized indicates someone experiencing neurological differences in a person's brain likely caused by trauma, most often developmental trauma.

Neurotraumatized is intended to be a non-medical umbrella term to acknowledge that those of us who experienced extended periods of misconnection in childhood now understand and experience the world differently than folks with connective support systems. These differences include changes to our neurobiology and the creation of internal guiding truths.

This bit of word smashing acknowledges that I walk through the world differently than most and the cause of those differences.

As part of my healing process, I needed language for my experiences that didn't end up in arguments (usually with myself) over what actually happened. It leaves room for others' experiences of the same thing to be different.

For me, this language has an additional benefit in that it doesn't feel like I'm blaming people who were doing the best they could with the skillset they had and the hand they were dealt.

Felt: My childhood memories aren't movies or even pictures. They're things stuck in my body without words or context. I can tell stories around those sensations, but calling them the truth would be going too far.

Experience: While you can certainly question the veracity of my memories, how 'right' they are doesn't change how my perceived experience impacted me.

Spiral: A way of describing the healing journey as a circular continuous line that moves in and out as we connect our lived experience with our history.

Path: The circular nature of the path means that we often end up revisiting events and feelings as we heal. This revisit allows us to heal another layer of the wound.

Things we do on the regular to promote changes in our thoughts and behaviors to move us closer to the people we want to be. By repeating a behavior, we're rewiring our lives. Practice makes permanent.

Examples include: mindfulness, meditation, prayer, moving our bodies, folding the laundry, and taking our meds.

Rituals: Consistently completed activity to promote change.

Ceremonies: Celebration of life as expressed in the here and now.

Doing: Showing up as open as possible. Completing agreed upon tasks with attention and intention to the best of your ability. Integrating what you learn into your day-to-day life.

the Work: Noticing what your body feels like. Connecting those sensations to emotions. Digging through your history for connections. Choosing who you want to be going forward.