Dusty’s Story, Part 2

and think for a moment. Have you ever had something traumatic happened to you, an unexpected loss of a family member or friend, messy breakup of a relationship, a shattering job loss. But instead of destroying you, you grew from that experience, learn something valuable about yourself, made you appreciate life a little or a lot more. This is what

psychologists call post traumatic growth. This is what happens when we use the pain from a loss for something bigger, to make a healthy change in our life, to grow, and when we look back, as painful as it was, we might even be grateful it happened because the new US is stronger inside. I tell you all this because we met a perfect example of someone on the journey of post traumatic growth. As you recall, Dusty was a twenty year Army veteran and was diagnosed with all the

symptoms of PTSD post traumatic stress disorder. Fortunately, time and great good fortune led Dusty to meet his now current wife, Charlene, who introduced him to transcendental meditation, which helped him get sober, healthy, reconnect with friends, find a purpose to his life. That story, the very real healing power of meditation in and of itself, would have been enough to merit a segment on this PODT cast, But I learned a lot more about Dusty

that I wanted to share with you. Because Dusty didn't just get better and leave it at that. Dusty made it his life's work to do something great. He resolved to save the lives of his fellow veterans, so he trained as a TM meditation teacher, brought the technique to veteran suffering from traumatic brain injury at the Eisenhower v A Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia, and then he became

executive director of the Boulder Crest Veterans Retreat Centers. His responsibility to bring meditation and other evidence based healing modalities to thousands and thousands of veterans and their families to help them not just cope with trauma, but start and sustain a journey towards post traumatic growth, to turn, as Dusty would say, their struggle into strength. I tell you all this because dusty story is particularly relevant for so

many of us right now. While we are not soldiers on the front lines of a battle, nonetheless, many of us are traumatized by isolation, uncertainty, and extreme fear. During the coronavirus crisis, there is a complete upheaval in what was once reassuringly called normal life. What can Dusty tell us about his veterans program for post traumatic growth that we might incorporate into our own lives so we can

move towards healing and growth during these tumultuous days. I asked Dusty about the difference between what he provides veterans at Boulder Crest and the conventional treatments offered to veterans by many VA hospitals and other treatment centers. Dusty said, at many VA hospitals, veterans get treatments for their problems,

whereas at Boulder Crest, veterans get training for growth. At a v A, there's a focus on the disorder created by the trauma, talking about the trauma, reliving the trauma, taking medications for the trauma, leaving the veteran to feel, in Dusty's word, diminished. Whereas a bouldercrest, the veterans focus on positive life affirming experiences such as meditation, but also hiking, fishing, cooking,

along with journaling and support groups. There's a focus on upliftment, on transforming the inner struggle for survival to the power of inner strength to make life more meaningful. While under lockdown, we can meditate, and we can journal, and we can focus on our strength and our life ahead rather than dwell on the past. And we can find a support group. And that is my final takeaway from Dusty. It's hard to do it alone. It's hard to make it by yourself.

You need support. We all do. We all need family, and if we don't have family, then we need our friends. As Dusty says quote, we know that life is full of ups and downs, and we also know that dealing with struggle requires mentors and a strong own network of support. So here's my health tip for the day. Meditate and find your mentor find your support group. All right, let's end this time together doing something that I think should be a feature of our everyday life, and that's appreciation

and gratitude. So let's take thirty seconds of quiet, thirty seconds to take a break, just take a moment. It turns out when we do that, it's good for our health as well. I'll be right back all right. Thank you for joining. This is Bob Broth. Keep calm, Thanks for listening today. I hope you heard something that inspires that uplifts you and that you can incorporate into your own life. Until next time, remember, meditate, be kind, and be true to yourself. Hey, all of you out there,

I'd love to hear from you. You can send me your stories, your questions, or anything else on your mind. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram at Meditation Bob. You can also send me an email at Meditation Bob Roth at gmail dot com. I look forward to hearing from you.