Reclaiming Our Life after a Traumatic or Acquired Brain Injury
Below is information that may encourage you to see and live your life in a new way. In a way that will help you to reclaim your life after your brain injury. To reclaim your life in a way that you may not have considered. In a way that will give you a new sense of hope and purpose in your new normal.
Possibilities and Opportunities
After a traumatic or acquired brain injury, reclaiming our lives may feel like being on a road that is going no where. As a result we may feel discouraged and defeated.
I have experienced being discouraged and defeated many times. But I am glad that I did not give up and would encourage you to also not give up on your process and yourself.
Give up although you may feel discouraged and defeated at times, because there is a solution.
Self-advocacy help turn discouragement and defeat into possibilities and opportunities.
My Journey to Reclaiming my Life (You are not Alone)
Finding Craig — Telling My Story Part 1
Finding Craig — Growing Up, continued… Part 2
Finding Craig — Learning to Walk Again By Not Giving Up Part 3
Finding Craig — My Academic Path Part 4
Finding Craig — My Brain Injury Awareness Part 5
Finding Craig — Empowering My Life Part 6
Finding Craig — My Physical Recovery Process Part 7
Finding Craig — Making Sense of Brain Injury Part 8
So What is Self-Advocacy Anyway
Self-Advocacy Defined
Self-Advocacy is learning how to speak up for ourselves when we need to. Making our own decisions by figuring out what is good for us and what is not good for us. Learning how to search for information that will help you and I to make good decisions for ourselves. Learning how to get information so that we can understand what you like and interest you.
Finding out who will support us in our process and journey. Knowing our rights and responsibilities as we move forward with our ongoing brain injury recovery. Learning how to use our mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions to enhance our lives and well-being. Reaching out to safe people who will not minimize, marginalize, dismiss, discount or patronize our journeys.
Knowing that we are responsible for ourselves, to take care of our mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions. Self-determination, intention and focus. Running our own race, staying in our own lane. Keep learning.
The Good News — We Can Own Our Whole Life
We can take our life back a little at a time by using the principle of neuroplasticity. Using this principle through a lot of repetition to explore and not give up to discover who we are as individuals. Through exploring how our mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions fit together. How our mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions impact and affect who we are as individuals. Who we are as individuals and how we interact with our world — people, places and things — after our brain injuries.
How Neuroplasticity Supports Brain Injury Recovery: Learning and Relearning Skills
Lessons Learned over the Course of nearly 7 Decades
Over the course of nearly 7 decades living and nearly 6 decades of living with the impact of a traumatic brain injury and an invisible disability I have learned lessons. Lessons that have helped me to reclaim my life after my traumatic brain injury, Lessons that I have shared through out Second Chance to Live for nearly 19 years. I have shared the lessons in different formats. Articles, video presentations, keynote presentations, eBooks and posters. 20 eBooks that contain these lessons.
Lessons Shared that Helped me Reclaim my Life after Brain Injury
Lessons that may help you to also reclaim your life after your brain injury. These 20 eBooks are available on Amazon. Books that may help you to reclaim your mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions after brain injury.
20 Ongoing Brain Injury Recovery eBooks by Craig J. Phillips MRC, BA Available on Amazon Books
Living with the Impact of a Brain Injury and Putting the Pieces in Place, Learning how to Celebrate Success after a Brain Injury, Being Your Own Hero through Creating Your New Normal, Living with a Brain Injury: Building Self-Esteem and Self-Acceptance, 12 Step Program Recovery Tools: 522 Principles to Improve and Enhance Relationships, Developing Your Genius after a Traumatic Brain Injury, Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation, Recovery and Self-Advocacy, How to Stop Getting in Your Way after Experiencing a Brain Injury, Living with a Traumatic Brain Injury and Learning to Take Care of Our Mind, Body, Spirit, Soul and Emotions, Learning How to be Your Own Best Friend after a Brain Injury, Rehabilitation Counseling and Learning to Thrive after Traumatic Brain Injury, Understanding Our Relationships after Having a Brain Injury, Finding Courage and Purpose after a Traumatic Brain Injury, Seeing Hope in a New Way after Experiencing a Brain Injury, Second Chance to Live: Autobiography and Brain Injury Recovery Resources, Life after a Traumatic Brain Injury and How to Move Forward, Neuroplasticity, Brain Injury, and Improving Our Quality of Living, Understanding and Overcoming Bullying after Brain Trauma, 20 Posters with Related Discussion and Keynote Presentations and Lighting the Way: Trauma-Informed Neuroplasticity Insights for Ethical AI Design
All of Me, not Just Some of Me
How my Mind, Body, Spirit, Soul and Emotions Connect
How my Mind, Body, Spirit, Soul and Emotions are affected and effected. Affect to produce an effect upon someone or something; to act on and cause a change in someone or something. Effect something that inevitably follows an antecedent (such as a cause or agent) result, outcome. [Both from Merriam-Webster Dictionary online]
An Ongoing Brain Injury Recovery in Our Whole Person
How my mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions affect and effect these important parts of how I experience my life. My self-esteem, self-acceptance, sense of achievement, hope, serenity, purpose, dreams, being able to stick up for myself, the relationship with myself, relationship with other people and the relationship I have with the God of my understanding and myself.
Through growing in understanding of how our whole person connects (mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions) self-advocacy occurs. And as we advocate for ourselves, we learn and know how to experience our independence, own our identify and the power in our ability to control. Experience our independence, identify and our ability to control what we can, in ways that will specifically work for us, one day at time.
Overview of How to Experience and Reclaim our Lives
Body – Gives me the ability to engage physically in my life and relations.
Soul – How I relate to myself and the people in my world.
Spirit – How I communicate with the God of my understanding and with myself.
Mind — How I gather information that gives me the ability to make decisions and choices.
Emotions – How I interpret what goes on in my world.
More Specifically and in Reflection
Body – working out using both sides of my brain and both sides of my body through repetitive mirrored movements. Using the principles of neuroplasticity to improve hand-eye coordination, balance, body awareness, coordination, focus, body awareness and agility. Create new neural pathways and brain reorganization through repetitive mirrored movements using the right / left sides, affected / non-affected side of our brain and body.
Soul – Growing in knowledge, wisdom and effectiveness through the application of that knowledge and wisdom. The soul is the expression of who the individual is as a unique being. The soul gives the individual the ability to experience and express their belief, desire and intention(s) to make choices and take action. The soul ‘births” and drives the individual’s purpose.
Spirit – The connection to God. The connection to myself. The importance of making peace with God so that I can learn to trust Him and His guidance. The importance of making peace with my past is so that my past does not spoil my present. Not relying on my own limited understanding/ Trusting a loving God to guide and direct my steps each day, one day at a time.
Mind – Gives the individual the ability to think, to imagine, to remember, to formulate the process of our lives. To exercise the intention and motivation. Powers the individuals “will” and “intention” through reason, perception, attitudes, suspicions, and fears. Examines how we look at and see both ourselves, our relationships, and the world at large.
Emotions – Being aware of how I am interpreting my experience and my relationships. Being aware of how I react or respond to my experience. Learning how to talk, trust and feel with safe people. The power of identification. Coming out of the shadows of isolation and breaking free from feelings of alienation. Finding hope through healthy expression.
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always to that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” Mark Twain
So that I can Advocate for Myself and Reclaim My Life
Build Self-Esteem – Defining for Myself
Independence, but inter-dependent — Understanding that We are Not Alone – To Figure “it” Out
Self-Acceptance – It is as it Is and What to Do Now?
Celebrating Success – Defining and Changing the Way we Define Success
Creating Hope — in Our Lives
Peace in Our Lives – Having and What Does this Mean to Me?
Living Our Purpose – Finding and Developing our Gifts, Talents and Abilities
Fulfilling Dreams – Where Do We Go from Here? (what we want in life)
Overcoming Bullying — Recognizing and determining who is good and who is not good for us
Relationship — Having one with Ourselves and other People
To Reclaim our Lives, We Must Begin
In my experience, I see the process of self-advocacy in brain injury recovery as a building block process. Building on my own lot in life a little at a time. Building through awareness, acceptance and then by taking action.
“Regardless of your lot in life you can build something beautiful on it.” Zig Ziglar
“Everyone is to accomplish something big, not realizing that life is made up of little things.” Frank A. Clark
“Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” Carl Bard
Be Encouraged to Discover what Works and what Does not Work
But to create I must begin. I must begin and then continue by involving all of what makes me who I am. All of who I am in my mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions. And so I encourage you to do the same as you continue to advocate for yourself.
Take action in and through by involving our body, soul, spirit, mind, and emotions in the process. In the process of owning our power, we create. And as we commit to an ongoing process of self-advocacy, we will find and learn to use what works.
“So often we become so focused on the finish line that we fail to enjoy the journey.” Dieter F. Uchtdorf
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” Joseph Campbell
“Research your own experience, absorb what is useful, reject what is useless and add specifically your own creation.” Bruce Lee
“I was told over and over again that I would never be successful, that I was not going to be competitive and the technique was simply not going to work. All I could do was shrug and say “We’ll just have to see”. Dick Fosbury “Inventor of the Fosbury flop, Olympic Gold Medalist
Author’s Note
I write from my lived experience of surviving and learning to thrive after a severe traumatic brain injury that I experienced at age of 10. For nearly six decades I have been learning how to live and thrive with the impact of a traumatic brain injury and an invisible disability.
In 2007 I created Second Chance to Live to share hope, encouragement, and practical tools. My motivation has always been to encourage a whole person recovery. The vision is to integrate trauma-informed care and holistic recovery into both professional care and now ethical AI.
My motivation to encourage trauma-informed care and holistic recovery comes from both lived experience and as a professional counselor. My mission is not abstract. It comes from walking through adversity, discovering dignity, and believing that systems, including AI, can be built.
Built to heal and not to harm. My hope is simple. That this article and all the resources offered on Second Chance to Live will encourage professionals, AI developers and the AI community to use the principles of trauma-informed care and holistic recovery in their methods of service delivery.
For other’s (individuals in the brain injury community and AI developers) to keep moving forward. Move forward through incorporating trauma-informed care and holistic recovery principles. A holistic recovery process that encourages recovery in mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions.
“Ideas do not always come in a flash but by diligent trial-and-error experiments that take time and thought.” Charles K. Kao
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