A Roadmap Through Trauma

Empowering Chats with Susan Burrell

Ep. #252 - A Roadmap Through Trauma, an Interview with Mary Firestone.

Emotions is the theme for this month. And I am always fascinated to find out who is going to fit into this theme and what I am going to learn.

And for this episode of Empowering Chats, I am honored to introduce Mary Firestone. Mary is an inspirational speaker and an author. Mary is the author of, Trusting the Dawn, How to Choose Freedom and Joy after Trauma. I met Mary at a winery in California when I was personally dealing with my own trauma. And her book spoke to me.

It took us a bit to get here – but after I met her, I knew I just had to have her on my podcast.

Here's her personal story. This is an excerpt from the introduction to her book: It was more than 5 hours before I was rescued from my bathroom countertop where I huddled wet and pregnant . . . I was shaking from the cold and fear from being trapped by millions of gallons of mud . . . for much of that time I thought my husband and 4-year-old son had been swept away in the mudslide . . . I thought my life was over . . . I watched this river of mud crumple a neighbor’s house and hurtle it down the hill away from me . . . On my right the majority of my house had twisted backwards and washed away . . . not only was my living room gone, but my panic surpassed anything I had ever known when I realized the window looking back at me was my 4-year-old son's bedroom and I thought he was in it.

Mary’s personal story of surviving this trauma is what led her to write this book. This mudslide occurred in early 2018, right after the Thomas Fire raged through much of Southern California in late 2017. The land was barren from the fire and ripe for mudslides which occurred when torrential non-stop rain hit many of the coastal cities including Santa Barbara and Montecito.

And so, I led the interview by asking Mary the question, How can trauma be a gift? Mary explains that for her the gift came in the form of her intellectual thinking brain going on hiatus so her body could get in touch with what she identifies as the Divine, recognizing that some people call this their higher self or The Universe. She saw this as a gift because it allowed her to tap into recognizing her fragileness and the beauty of being human. Being human, according to Mary, means we get to experience not just the joy and love that comes with our human life but also have an appreciation and a connection to that higher frequency because of the trauma some of us experience.

And this experience is what led Mary to research how others who had lived through trauma learned to overcome and compost the trauma so that they too came out the other end with more light, more joy and more understanding of what it means to be human.

Mary’s book is not just full of research but tools we can all use to overcome trauma and recognize when we are taking the label of “victimhood” and using it as a crutch to stay stuck. Mary shares stories of other victims who survived extreme trauma and did not become lifelong victims. Mary talks about healing from the inside out so we can tap into our inner landscape for healing.

Mary offers many well researched facts, and experienced information about how to heal from trauma. Whether you are dealing with your own trauma or dealing with the traumatizing events going on in the world, there is something here we can all learn from. So even if you think you don’t need to know about trauma or heal from it – on some level we are all touched by it.

In closing Mary shared the following: You are not alone. This book can be your companion. There is so much hope and avenue for you to find joy and re-ignite your light. Don’t give-up. Seek your solution and take care of yourself, love yourself and you will heal.

To learn more about Mary Firestone and to purchase her book please visit: MaryFirestone.co

To learn more about how I show up in the world please visit my website at: SusanBurrell.com