Understanding the painful past to move forward into the future

Hey everyone!

We are back from our Eid break and will start posting regulary every Thursday.

This letter is different, and it goes deep and cuts straight to the bone.
Ok, but why?
One of the goals of letters is to provide knowledge on how you can improve your life. Self-help tips on how to increase your productivity and discipline, and personal finance advice to help you accumulate wealth so you can be freer. These are all great.
But some of us deal with problems that require another kind of awareness: Your childhood trauma. There is a good chance you might suffer from one, and to this day, these painful childhood pains are still manifesting in your life in ways you can't even imagine.
This letter will tackle this issue. What is trauma? How is it affecting your life? What can you do about it?

🧵 Weekly Thread

Trauma Thread - By Dr. Tracy Westerman

A technical yet concise introduction to how our body responds to traumatic events. This is thread is helpful as it will give a context for the suggested lecture and timestamped notes and will surely enable you to make the most out of it

Dr Tracy Westerman AM @TracyWesterman 1/6: A TRAUMA THREAD: Flight/fight/freeze are common responses to trauma. The ability to activate all three mechanisms is why people both survive & heal from traumatic events. Much of this ability is genetic & biological (or what we inherit as a stress response mechanism). 10:46 PM • Feb 16, 2022 437 likes • 95 retweets

📝 Timestamped Note

Dr. Gabor Mate - Tim Ferris Show

This interview, which I highly suggest watching & rewatching with your loved ones, is a profound & insightful journey inside yourself, the pain you are carrying, and how to help yourself reconcile with the past and move forward into the future.

Short Clips

Full Interview

Download Timestamped Note:

Download our timestamped notes to quickly explore the topics discussed in the episode and listen to what interests you the most!

Gabor Mate The Tim Ferriss Show Gabor Maté - The Tim Ferriss Show.pdf • 384 KB

📰 Article of The Week

Your Family: Past, Present, and Future - by Tim Urban

This is a distinct article and does not directly relate to the subject of the letter, though it provides a solid outlook that you can knit with the other resources (particularly about Gabor's approach on how to deal with the painful past)
This article is a journey, and it's one that I unexpectedly appreciated taking!
This journey will carry you along your family tree—way back and way forward. You will be the center and the margin.
I'm glad that I came across this article, and I hope you do too.

What happens if I just keep extending my family tree up and up and up? What exactly is a fourth cousin and how many of them do I have and where are they all right now?

Your Family: Past, Present, and Future — Wait But Why

The past, present, and future of your family tree are all far more fascinating than you realize.

Wait But Why•View all posts by Tim Urban →

Thank you for reading!

Hope you enjoyed this week's letter, if you did, share the letter with others so they can join you in your learning journey!