Glossary
This evolving glossary of terms, is a collection of words we use on this site. The definitions may be different than ones found in other places. These are ones that align with our goal of supporting unwounded language. Language that includes what happens in our body.
Many terms have multiple definitions, some may even seem to contradict each other. There are multiple ways to look at each term, and we value those possibilities.
Aliveness:
A state of energetic vitality, flexibility and coherency (Wholeness) in all the systems of our Being.
Post-traumatic Growth:
"Post traumatic growth is the experience of positive change that occurs as a result of the struggle highly challenging life crises….
A state of development where someone has surpassed what was present before the struggle with crisis occurred. The individual has not only survived but has experienced changes that are viewed as important and that go beyond the status quo...
It is also also suggested that post traumatic growth mutually interacts with life wisdom, and the development of the life narrative, and that it is an ongoing process, not a static outcome..." - Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun (Posttraumatic Growth: Conceptual Foundations and Empirical Evidence, 2004)
Post-traumatic Stress:
Post-traumatic Stress is a physical injury to the central nervous system caused by the undischarged energy of an interrupted survival instinct - Peter Levine
“PTS(D) is what happens when your head makes you do what your heart knows is wrong”. - Marine Veteran
Post-traumatic Stress = Any unwanted emotions, thoughts, or behaviors that repeat in our daily lives after a traumatic experience.
Post-traumatic Stress = what continues to happen in our body and mind long after an event has happened.
Post-traumatic stress = a state of being that occurs after a person undergoes an event for which they are not equipped.
Rite of passage:
A ceremony or other event that marks and supports a major life passage.
Stress:
Stress is the activation of the body in response to something significant happening. - Dr. Dan Siegel
Stress = an automatic physical response to anything that requires me to adapt to change.
Stress = Low control + High demands
Trauma
Trauma = Overwhelming a systems capacity to adapt (Something that overwhelms a persons nervous systems capacity to adapt).
Trauma is not the occurrence of deeply distressing or overwhelming experiences but, rather, what we do within our psyches to protect ourselves — mostly unconsciously — from the psychological, social, and physical impact of those experiences. - Bill Plotkin
Wholing:
The cultivation of wholeness. (As opposed to "healing").
Engaging in practices that support the cultivation of, and relationships between, our facets of wholeness, our innate inner resources that support psychological wellness.
Wholing is about connecting our our inherent strengths, and capabilities, back to all the parts of ourselves that we've suppressed or repressed, and hidden away, due to shame, embarrassment, trauma or other life events.
Wholeness
An state of integration where we have re-linked the separated parts of our body, mind, heart and soul to each other. Creating a sense of interconnectedness in ourselves and the capacity to notice and move through different aspects of our psyche fluidly (instead of being rigidly disassociated).