L. Chris Cannida, LPC

The definition of bear: to carry the weight of; support; endure

September 11, 2001 didn’t have a direct impact on me. Other than making phone calls trying to ensure the safety of my husband’s nephew who was attending the US Naval Academy at the time, I had no personal connection to anyone who was affected. The first direct impact happened several years later when a young veteran had returned home from Iraq and was cowered in a corner of an Intro to Psych class I was teaching for the local community college. The topic of lecture that day was post-traumatic stress. He spent the hour painstakingly hidden behind a computer monitor and after class ended he approached me with much reticence. He asked if I knew how he might “get some help”. That was the first time I began to bear witness of September 11, 2001 as I watched a multitude of people throw themselves into carrying the weight of losses that day by fighting back against tragedy in whatever ways they could. In the next 7 years that scenario repeated itself more times than I can count. Young men and women would serve, separate from the military and return home to attend school. Their service would begin catching up with them and their bodies were keeping a score too high to hold. First-responders would filter from NYC to the community where I lived just east of the Smoky Mountains and seek new life in the form of changed vocations. This “psych” instructor who was also a practicing therapist seemed a logical place to begin dumping the score that was too heavy to bear.

It made perfect sense that, in June of 2008, as the post-9/11 wars drudged on I would seize the chance to immerse myself in motor pools and tarmacs. I was a well-trained therapist and now my training was stretched by tragedy. The ripple effects of that day are nearly endless. On September 11, 2001 lives were forever changed. One by one, as they would tell their stories of impact, I tried to listen with all my might and really learn what it meant to bear witness. I began to journal and blog as my own “dust off” project, keeping myself buoyant for the next stories that would come my way. What I could easily release through writing, the survivors of 9/11 and all the wars, suicides, and losses that were its ripple effect, could never release for good. Their awareness of tragedy would become their lives.

While I can’t offer exact accounts of specific stories I’ve heard, the following provide a snapshot of what might be heard when we bear witness:

My thoughts on May, 2014: “I heard about what happens to the souls of men and women who watch a comrade die in their arms. I heard about the guilt felt that their mission had now added to a lifetime of sorrow for more Gold Star families. I reflect on heartache so palpable that day it nearly sounded like drums beating a faded cadence”.

My thoughts on June, 2014 as the stories kept coming: “Having listened to hundreds of warriors talk about war, I now know that in order to thrive in combat a soldier must manipulate the soul – sacrificing pieces of it when having to take a life or cutting off access to it in order to push ahead with the mission.”

If I could wrap up all the stories from first response personnel it might sound something like this: “I feel stuck. Stuck in my fear. Stuck in that tower. I’ve fought so many fires, seen so much danger. Why did this one hurt differently? I think it’s because I’d never felt so helpless before. I can’t do helpless, yet that’s all I ever feel now“.

For some, the practice of remembrance – especially so many years later – can be overwhelming. It can be hard to understand why the stories need telling again and again. Trauma is stored in both our minds and bodies. If the trauma is severe enough, it can take years for the body to translate the tragedy into words. For many, it can remain unspeakable for decades. Yet, years of studying how victims of atrocity do heal includes learning about the transformation that takes place between a person telling their story and the willingness of the listener. Famed psychiatrist, teacher, and author Judith Herman reminds us that “…….the talking cure is predicated on the existence of a community willing to bear witness”. I believe we must take her words to another level. Sometimes what the survivor needs is not just a listener, but someone who will sit with them while the words of their story take shape. In sitting with them through their silences and tears, we are holding for them what is too heavy to hold alone. We must be a community willing to hold the stories for as long as needed – an eternity if need be – in order for healing to take place. When someone is willing to bear witness to our pain, they agree to hold for us the weight of that pain while we shift and adjust.

I wasn’t directly affected by the events of 9/11, but I was forever changed by the stories those events created for others. A friend and colleague called me recently needing to tell me about some stressful events she’s living through and thanked me for “just listening“. She commented that she wasn’t sure why she felt the need to “tell it all” to me. She needed me to bear witness. May our willingness remain forever present.

“Without a witness, it just disappears.” – the character of Charles in the movie titled “Taking Chance“

If you or someone you know is struggling, the listeners on the end of this phone number can help guide you to places that can help:

National Suicide Hotline: 1-800-273-8255

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photo by Samuel Silitonga (pexels.com)

I can’t count the number of times people have told me they “can’t stand to be still”. They’re not talking about the discomfort that comes from suffering with diagnosed hyperactivity such as with ADHD. These are people who follow their statement with an explanation that to spend time in stillness means being flooded with intolerable anxiety. They fill their environment and their minds with whatever busyness prevents the overwhelming tension that rises from the quiet. Many of them also admit the busyness doesn’t do away with the internal angst. That’s when they turn to numbing agents such as food, alcohol, or other substances. Even behaviors such as indiscriminate sex or gambling gives them a sense that they can avoid the pain of thoughts and emotions they’d rather avoid. Life is spent running away. Running away from what hurts the most. But, that form of self-abandonment often leaves them in more pain.

Somehow facing difficult thoughts and feelings with a sojourner nearby makes it feel safer.

Unfortunately, the thoughts and feelings they try to dismiss first need a space of their own – a time to be processed, a chance to be considered and resolved. Until then, the thoughts creep in as uninvited memories. Unaddressed, the painful emotions take up camp inside the person’s body causing physical conditions such as weakened immunity, inflammation, and muscle tension. The mental suffering we typically call clinical depression or anxiety is really more of a burden than the stillness might be. A vicious cycle ensues. Think, feel, avoid, suffer. Think, feel, avoid, suffer.

When these persons find their way into my office, they are fully prepared to ask that I help them resolve the pain without actually addressing it. Deep down inside, however, they know I’m going to nudge them toward those quiet moments, where in the stillness they find strength to face the unfaceable. At first, they resist my recommendation to try meditative practice, mindfulness exercises, or clearing time each day to be with those thoughts and feelings (such as in journaling). That’s okay. I’ve done my share of avoidance in my life. So, I gladly offer the therapy session itself to make their introduction to ways of spending quality time with themselves. Somehow facing difficult thoughts and feelings with a sojourner nearby makes it feel safer.

Without the barriers of unresolved griefs, pent up angers, and overwhelming sorrows, we can begin to use our quiet moments of ‘nothing’ to gain the rest we need.

Once they reduce fear of these difficult moments, learning they can tolerate and even welcome them in as teachers of the soul, stillness becomes friend not foe. This is important especially now that science has discovered doing “nothing” for periods of time has both physical and mental health benefits. Our bodies and minds need reset moments to reach full capacity and to heal from the strains and traumas of our lives. Stillness is where we can remember who we are, who we were supposed to be before the players of our lives assigned to us roles for which we didn’t audition. In the quiet, we can give our inner selves a voice to determine our truths. Without the barriers of unresolved griefs, pent up angers, and overwhelming sorrows, we can begin to use our quiet moments of ‘nothing’ to gain the rest we need.

I encourage you to explore your relationship with stillness. See what doing nothing offers you. Learn that nothing moments can be some of the best moments of your life.

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If you find yourself struggling with hopelessness, please reach out for support.

National Suicide Hotline

1-800-273-8255

This information is not intended to replace the medical advice or treatment of a trained professional.  If you find yourself struggling to manage challenging thoughts or moods, contact your primary care physician or seek the support of a licensed mental health professional.