As I complete my slides for the International Brainspotting Conference (Neurobiology & Research) in July 2021, I am fixated on a 4 circle Venn diagram of how we use our eyes to see and create clarity in our lives. The first circle is Focus, the fine tuned 20/20 vision and continuous concentration we try to do every day. We use this pathway to answer what it is we are seeing and seeking.

The eyes receive 1 to 10 million bits of information every second, filtered down to 50 or so manageable bites of data in our brains. In the process, we can lose the big picture and gain what I call an “inner cricket (critic)”. You may have 20/20 vision, but be more focused on what is wrong than what is right with how you see others and yourself.

A client this week said when her periphery is lost, she loses her perspective (beautiful!) and that is true for focus, as well. Especially if your default mode (called the default mode network in the brain) is negative, it is a sign that your focus is being railroaded by past trauma and ongoing stress. Brainspotting is just one way to rework those familiar tracks that are keeping you down.

Here’s an article on how to improve your focus before you lose your mind! Stay tuned for the next circle on the Venn diagram to your own Post-traumatic Clarity.

The second circle in the Vision Venn diagram is noticing where you are in your body and environment. The medical term is called Orienting and your eyes are big part of that. Where your eyes move (aka orient) while you notice your feelings is called “gaze spotting” in Brainspotting. My colleague’s video shows this in an actual Brainspotting session (with therapist/client post-processing of how different stages felt for them), check it out!

For me, my orienting involves my identity as a retired eye doctor, 13 year cancer patient and middle-aged (!) woman. Where I am in my life seems to be defined by how well I can observe my achievements and challenges while still feeling grounded and resilient. Often, I slip into “Super Mom Dr” mode and try to do too much while I am already exhausted, making me more stressed and irritable. Before my post-traumatic clarity, I thought that my value depended upon what I got done which was in conflict with what I wanted for me.

As a therapist, I created a Dual Brainspot protocol to let my shitty feeling be in one place and my need to escape be in another while I process between them. This leads to less double vision and dueling inner voices and a more relaxed Vergence feeling…in the next circle!

The final circle is when the healing that takes place in a session translates into real life. We literally see the world differently when we have had the experience of seeing our life stories more accurately (and kindly) and feeling seen by those who help us process it. There is an Emergence of emotions that are not so old and black-and-white but technicolor and 3D. We go from seeking an expert companion to help us to knowing we can be that for ourselves.

As I looked PTSD and cancer and troublesome relationships in the eye, I found a way to heal and express myself. These are the successful outcomes that arise as our traumas heal and move us to share with others in the How I talk about it? circle. I am delighted when this occurs in my Brainspotting clients and myself both organically and effortlessly because both eyes and brain hemispheres are “on” and recovered from trauma creating a softer, more resilient focus of post traumatic growth and clarity.

In Brainspotting, these are the insights that arise after we “squeeze the lemon” of residual thoughts and sensations that are subtle but present so that we get a full resetting of the nervous system and relief from our troublesome symptoms.

I am writing a memoir on this very thing so that the issues that suck all your focus, stop you from observing what might help, and diverge you from trauma healing can emerge into your very own post-traumatic clarity.