Today I talk about racial trauma, and, in particular, the racial trauma that African Americans experience. One central tenet of all story work is that in order for healing to occur there has to be an honest naming of what has been true. This is true in your individual story and it is no less true in our collective story as a nation.

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One of the things that prevents people from engaging the ways they have been harmed is the simple objection, "Who am I to judge my parents?" The premise of the objection is simply, "It's wrong for me to judge my parents. That's God's job, not my job." In today's episode, I take a look at what the Bible says about judging other people.

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Many people look back on their growing up years and simply don't remember very much. In today's episode I offer some suggestions on what to do when you are having a difficult time remembering your stories. If you want a summary of today's episode, you can go to adamyoungcounseling.com and get a free resource called "What If I Don't Remember Much Of My Childhood?" This document also outlines several written exercises you can do to help you remember your stories.

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What is actually happening when two people interact—whether that's two spouses, a therapist and a client, or two friends? What is actually happening in the brains of the two people who are interacting? Primarily, nonverbal messages are being communicated from one person's right brain to the other person's right brain. This has profound implications for why interpersonal interactions can be so fraught.

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I am joined today by Susan Cunningham, a California-based counselor, life and soul coach and spiritual director. Sue shares one of the most formative stories of her life. It's a story about a first grade girl who decided to use her voice. Your voice is one of the parts of you that is most frequently targeted by Evil. If you have a history of trauma, it's likely that you struggle with using your voice.

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I am joined today by Heather Stringer, a therapist with The Counseling Collaborative. Not only does Heather take the body seriously when it comes to engaging trauma, she is also very skilled in designing rituals that facilitate healing. Today we talk about both our physical bodies and the importance of rituals.

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This is part 2 of my interview with Jenny McGrath about the importance of paying attention to the sensations in our physical bodies when it comes to healing from trauma. Some of the ground we cover includes what can be done when you can't feel the sensations in your body. We also talk about doing body work to heal the trauma stored in your body. When it comes to healing, paying attention to your body and working with your body is extremely important.

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I'm joined today by Jenny McGrath, a therapist in Seattle who focuses on how trauma is stored in the body and how the body must be engaged in the healing of trauma. Jenny talks about how and why she began to take the body more seriously when it comes to healing. Topics covered include why our body has a fight, flight, freeze response and how to work with our nervous system to facilitate healing.

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What would it look like to begin writing—and praying—your own psalms? When we are feeling big feelings, it can be very healing to put words to those feelings and then to pour the feelings out in prayer. By writing and praying your own psalms, you can facilitate integration in your brain and liberation of your heart. I've developed a guide entitled How to Write Your Own Psalm which you can access from my website.

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This is an emotional time. We are all having big feelings. And when we are having big feelings, the place we need to find ourselves is… in the Psalms. Today I hope to open up the power of the book of Psalms for a moment such as this. And by the end of the episode, my invitation to you will be, "What would it look like to begin writing your own Psalms and then praying the Psalms you write?"

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