Courage is Contagious: How Women Can Heal Now

We’re a month away from Halloween, but I’m not exaggerating when I say that this week, ghosts and monsters were released from their hiding places for millions of women.

This happened when long-buried memories of sexual trauma came howling back as the courageous witness of Dr. Ford allowed us a collective context in which to remember.

The good news is this: it doesn’t matter whether what you are feeling is fear or anger or panic or grief or shame or anxiety or rage or paralysis. These feelings are the key to healing.

I have spent my adult life studying two things: trauma and mindfulness. And when we bring one simple insight from each together, we can discover how to move forward in gentle and effective ways.

Insight #1 : Trauma is a wound of the heart

Why did Dr. Ford’s vulnerability and truth-telling affect so many women from different walks of life in deeply personal ways?

Because a profound truth about a traumatic experience is that it doesn’t matter what happened. (Stay with me here; I know that’s hard to hear.)

What I mean is that whether your trauma happened repeatedly from the time you were a toddler or one night in an alley between house parties at beach week or at a neighbor’s…