Over the years of working in the field of trauma recovery and transgenerational trauma recovery, I have found that most people are unaware that unresolved trauma, whether it be from their childhood or from their family system, is at the core of there issues and challenges. Unresolved trauma in the workplace is considered even less.

By doing this trauma quiz you have taken the opportunity to identify issues that you may have tolerated for years and may have become your normal. All of the issues listed in this quiz can have their roots in unresolved trauma. These symptoms of trauma are warning lights to help you recognize that something needs your attention.

What is very common is that people may go to their doctor trying to find relief from these conditions, only to find that symptom management doesn't resolve them. If you are able to see these issues as your body sending out a cry for help and approach them as symptoms of trauma you are more likely to find the relief you are seeking.

​Next step is to look at your quiz and see how many symptoms from each level you have identified. Read the summary for each level and see if this resonates with you. At this point you don't have to know the trauma (and you may be very well aware of your trauma) that is causing the symptoms. You just need to be open to the possibility that trauma is the cause of the symptoms you are experiencing.

These symptoms are the beginning sign that there is an imbalance that needs your attention. The cause of these symptoms can be so easily dismissed as relating to many things and are likely to fly under your radar. If we take a look through trauma lenses we are looking at the beginning warning signs that unresolved trauma may be the reason you are experiencing these symptoms. Most people do not give much attention to these early warning signs.

Now, these symptoms are knocking a little louder. When level one symptoms are not listened to and remain out of your awareness, they increase in intensity and morph into level two symptoms. They are becoming a little harder to ignore or dismiss because of how they impact your life. Most people continue to push through these symptoms with the support of their doctor and medications, or they may begin to self-medicate to find relief.

These symptoms are not able to be ignored or avoided anymore. You may find at this level that even what the doctor is advising isn't working to resolve the symptoms. Your perceived perception of the world is through your trauma glasses and may not be aligned with your current reality. When you bring these symptoms into your awareness, you may find that your past wound self is running your life and preventing you from achieving your full potential. The impact of the symptoms on your life can be devastating not only for yourself but also for your relationships.

You may find that you experience a combination of all three symptom levels.

If you have any symptoms from level 3, it is time to take action and listen to the warning alarm. There is a sense of urgency to enlist support to comprehend what is happening to you and what these symptoms are trying to tell you. With these symptoms it is likely you are already actively seeking some kind of resolution.

If you have symptoms from level 2, there is less urgency and there is the risk of increasing intensity of these symptoms which could lead to level three symptoms. It is likely that you are tolerating a lot in your life and are potentially sick of doing this.

If you have level 1 symptoms, it's important to not just dismiss this. Instead take some time to notice them and give them the time of day. You may start to see a pattern of when they show up, and you may notice that one of these symptoms shows up every time a certain thing happens or you have to go a certain place. This process can be done with all levels and with any symptom. It's always best to not let the symptoms increase to a point that they are so debilitating for you.

As Peter Levine rights in his book, the Walking Tiger, "Trauma is a fact of life. It does not, however, have to be a life sentence."  This is just the beginning of building awareness of trauma in your life. We all experience trauma as part of living this life. It only becomes a problem for us when it remains unresolved within us.

​I hope this has been an insightful exercise in awareness for you and it has got you thinking about how you have come to be the way you are in the world. Remember, you are not the conditioning and creative adjustments you have had to make to survive your life. When you join me in discovering the difference between this adjusted self and the truth of who you are, you will finally be able to use all the energy taken up with surviving and use that for living fully.
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​“The past does not haunt us. We haunt the past." Augusten Burroughs