Skip to content

Dance With The Devil

    I just heard that 80% of the world’s population (1.7 billion) will experience some form of trauma in their lifetime.  And from what I know about trauma, 10% of them (170 million) will have PTSD … Did I do that math right???  170 million!!!  If so, that is a crazy amount of people who are forced to dance with the devil.

    Wisdom taught me that trauma is trauma is trauma … meaning the essence is the same.  PTSD is formed by mixing intervening variables (natural disasters, terrorism, war, abuse, divorce, bullying, community-based violence etc.) with the degree of violence, with each person’s life experiences, and with their emotional health.  That mixture makes no two traumatic events alike.

    I’m in that PTSD sorority, and after hearing the above statistic I wanted to share a wisdom-based tip that helped me create a peaceful mindset – I made friends with The Devil because fighting it and resisting it only caused it to hang around.

    In no way did our friendship enable The Devil to bring more chaos.  Hell No!!!  Rather I broke bread with it and threw it a badass attitude.  I spoke with a reassurance heir and sternly told The Devil, Fuck you. I know you’re here. You’ve got my attention. Say what you will then shut up so I can find acceptance, peace, and move on.

    silver lining playbookIf that doesn’t make sense, then look at it thru the eyes of an Egyptian friend who once told me, Trust your neighbor but tie up your camel at night.  A juxtaposition which resonated with my biblical belief to love our neighbor and with a life lesson; trauma is part of life.  To find peace I had to stop running from The Devil, give it the world’s best stink eye, and trust that everything has its place, its time.

    Now I live with peace knowing about the unseen neighbor. When required I will dance with The Devil.  He acts like he’s got the lead, but trust me … I’ve got the playbook.

    There is a time for everything,
        and a season for every activity under the heavens:

        a time to be born and a time to die,
        a time to plant and a time to uproot,
        a time to kill and a time to heal,
        a time to tear down and a time to build,
        a time to weep and a time to laugh,
        a time to mourn and a time to dance,
        a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
        a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
        a time to search and a time to give up,
        a time to keep and a time to throw away,
        a time to tear and a time to mend,
        a time to be silent and a time to speak,
        a time to love and a time to hate,
        a time for war and a time for peace.

     Ecclesiastes 3 1:8

    Always tri.  Never stop.
    Featured image by Graham Jeffery

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *