Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 13, 2023

Consider this a lesson for the rest of your life! 

We may think that doing the right thing, just feels right to us, and most of the time, it may feel as if it isn't that big of a deal. I know when I do it, it is because I hope it can make a difference to someone else, even if it may seem like a tiny thing. I have a feeling that someone did the right thing and then walked away without thinking twice about what they did.

First, less than an hour ago, that theory was proven true.

 

This is the post I put up on a Facebook group.

Last week I was shopping at Market Basket on Milton Road. My husband noticed one of my earrings was missing. I was heartbroken. I only shop once a week, so today I asked at the desk to see if anyone found it. Slim chance since it was a week ago. The clerk was shocked. She said someone just turned it in this morning, If you found it, I wanted you to know it felt like a miracle to me. I told the clerk you were a blessing. I told a couple of cashiers I know what happened and it made their day. So your good deed didn't just end there. I bet there are some people on here feeling as if it made their day too. It may seem small to some people, but to others, it proves the goodness in humanity still lives! #sharethelove

In less than an hour, over 160 people were touched by the post. It is because when the stranger did something it changed my day. It also changed the day of the people I told at Market Basket when I was shopping. It changed the day for people reading this small post.

The thing is, this is how miracles happen. I don't know who you are. You could have been in the store when I was doing the grocery shopping for the week in my Grinch mask because I have health problems. I have a feeling that's how I lost the earring taking it off when I got out of the store last week. You could have been the nice lady joking with me. 

You could have been in line at the registers when I was telling the cashier what you did, and another cashier heard it, as well as people in her line. You could have been walking behind me when I told another cashier I know and she was joyful. 

What I can tell you is, you were in the car with me driving home. You were in my garage as I brought in the groceries. You were with me when I took a picture of the earring and posted it on Facebook. You were with me as I saw the count go up and up with people being touched by it. You are with me now as I write this post.

So if you think what you did was just a small thing,

It was huge for a lot of people!

They say history is written by the victors

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 12, 2023

"They say history is written by the victors, but what if the victims are the ones with the pens?

I needed a break from writing after finishing the first three books of the Ministers Of The Mystery series. Working on the fourth book has drained me. I thought it was time to venture into other areas of how people used faith like power, not as it was intended to benefit other people, but use it as a weapon to gain money and power other others. After all, isn't that what Christian leaders have done since the day Christ sacrificed His life?

History provides a brutal account of what far too many did in His name but not as He said they should live their own lives. The Vikings encountered Christian opposition to the power they sought to blame all they did on their god Oden so they could go to Valhalla with the Valkyrie coming to take the worthy there.

Considering I am Greek and Scottish, and my husband is Italian, we have our own history of brutality in our bloodlines just as most people do. The truth is, the above quote is correct. The ones with the pens hold the power over history proving in the long run, "the pen is mightier than the sword."

How the Vikings Saved Europe and Got a Terrible Reputation

The Daily Beast
William O’Connor
Travel Editor
Updated Jul. 12, 2017

History teaches us that the Vikings were brutal, thieving invaders, but much of that history was written by Viking victims: European monks. New evidence says otherwise.

They say history is written by the victors, but what if the victims are the ones with the pens?

That is the bizarre circumstance surrounding the history of the Vikings since the centuries-old myth that has come down to us about their brutal savagery originated with their victims—monks and priests—who had the monopoly on writing at that time.

As a result, the image we have today of the marauding Vikings is both wildly off the mark and ignores the major contributions they made in shaping Europe during the Middle Ages. That demystification and deep dive into the world of one of history’s most iconic people is the subject of a new book, The Age of the Vikings by Anders Winroth. Not only are the Vikings completely misunderstood, he argues, but they may have saved Europe.

The Vikings weren’t picky about their raiding targets, but the short-term gains in booty and ransom achieved by attacking monasteries resulted in the Vikings being relegated to the “vicious barbarian” category of history. The monks in those monasteries were the only historians around at that time.

“Since [the Vikings] attacked those with a monopoly on writing, it is their deeds … that have gone down in history as infamous, irrational, and bloodthirsty,” writes Winroth.
read more here
Vikings

Vikings: Valhalla

What do the Vikings have to do with PTSD? What they lived through and what their enemies also had to live through to tell the stories of what happened to them. Today we see people with large followers using their pens to make people believe we are broken, (that is when they bother to think of us at all,) and then ask for money to raise awareness the suffering is causing veterans to commit suicide. First, they use a number of "22 a day" and yet did not bother to read the report from the VA stating clearly it was a study from just 21 states with limited data.

The VA points to the known number of veterans committing suicide going down but fails to point out, the veteran population has also gone down. As bad as that is, reporters didn't seem to care and grabbed the headline of 22 a day. Non-veterans, in their eyes, do not exist. 

Now we all have pens in our hands but these pens are tied to keyboards and able to reach the world in seconds, achieved by us and others, and preserved for history. Our understanding of the world we live in, what our surroundings are and our struggles are worthy tales to tell. 

The question is, do we allow others to tell our stories with their own point of view, focusing on what they want people to know, or do we tell our stories for ourselves so others will know how we survived long enough to tell the tales?

What we see today is people using their faith as a weapon against anyone with different beliefs. People use us to conjure up all kinds of imaginary monsters but the ones we fight are real. What they continue to ignore are the facts that we not only survive, we thrived and helped others heal too. Now that, that is a powerful message we can and must use our pens to record for history, or we will become the work of fiction to entertain instead of inspire with the truth.

We survived, therefor we are the victors and should make sure our stories are remembered. Maybe then, the veterans will see they are only human too. With how many events they survived, knowing we struggled after just one event, it may help them understand that very simple fact.

Ministers Of The Mystery: Where PTSD and the Salem Witch Trials Meet

The Crossroads Where PTSD and the Salem Witch Trials Meet

Contributor: BookTrib
BookTrib
February 6, 2023 

Kathie Costos and Murray

The Scribe of Salem by Kathie Costos

Most people who have the slightest interest in the occult, hard-to-believe historical occurrences or early settlers of North America will be familiar with the Salem Witch Trials. In The Scribe of Salem: Ministers of the Mystery, the first book in the Ministers of the Mystery series, Kathie Costos takes readers on a wild fictional journey that has one foot in reality. Filled with suspense, historical intrigue, magic, and scripture, this supernatural thriller discusses the horrors of those legendary trials and how they impact the town to this day.

We spoke to Katie Costos about her inspiration for The Scribe of Salem, as well as her own personal connection with the infamous town.

Q: What first drew your attention to the Salem witch trials?

A: I grew up near Salem and at least once a year, I’d go there to visit the museums and walk what I called the trail of tears knowing so many innocent people were accused of witchcraft, imprisoned, tortured and 20 of them were legally murdered because of hatred by people claiming to be Christian. That most of the accusers were dealing with what we now call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder — PTSD.

Q: What kind of research did you do in writing this book?

A: The witchcraft trials have been a lifetime hobby but PTSD has been my vocation for 40 years. It is a battle between what is good within us that leaves us asking if God did it to us or if God saved us. I tried to look at the trials in a different way and discovered that they had to find something or someone to blame for the calamities they could not explain. They blamed Satan and outcasts at first but then greed and hatred took over so no one was safe. It made me wonder what finally got through to the people and the trials ended, as much as if God tried to prevent it from happening ahead of time.

Q: What can you tell us about Chris’s character and his journey?

A: Chris was brilliant but his mind could not stop his soul from being wounded after surviving a bomb blast leaving him covered with scars on the right side of his body, and the scars in his soul. He could begin to lose his faith in God and friends as PTSD was eating away at hope and was pushed over the edge after his wife tried to kill him. By the 7th anniversary of the blast, he had given up, and with no hope left, he decided to end his suffering on his terms but God had other ideas. The time had come for the reason he was sent to this world to begin. His friends came back into his life, strangers came into it and he followed where he was being led. He met a woman named Mandy, a Master Minister of the Mystery, able to see into his soul and guided by God to bless his healing so he could do what she was unable to do. read more here

Time to give yourself the gift of love to heal #PTSD

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
February 3, 2023

There are all different kinds of love, so I thought it was appropriate that The Visionary Of Salem be offered for free until Valentine's Day.

THE VISIONARY OF SALEM at Barnes and Noble or wherever you read eBooks.

Never underestimate the power you have within your skin! While your body came from your parents, your soul came from God. With it came everything you need to do for the purpose you were sent here to do. In Chris's case, he was sent in a time of darkness sweeping over the world to light the darkness with the flame of hope.

Chris and his friends face more battles as he struggles with trying to finish his third book. He's haunted by terrifying dreams of a woman. He is stalked by a fraud who passes himself off as a reverend while having hallucinations of Reverend George Burroughs who was hung during the witchcraft craze in 1692.

Chris always wondered what those people would think about what Salem turned into as a tourist destination. He just never thought that real witches were all around him and he wasn't the only one keeping secrets.

He discovered that the people in his life were there for a reason and a higher purpose. He had to fight to heal, reconnect to his spiritual faith, and believe in miracles again. The only thing standing in his way was his inability to believe in himself. It took a witch named Mandy to show him the power within himself. He healed, became a best-selling author of two inspirational books, a series being filmed, reunited with friends, and had more wealth and fame than he ever dreamed of, but still, he fought against changes in his life. His new psychologist was trying to get Chris to figure out what she already knew about him. She gained his trust, but he had no idea what she did in her free time.

This book explores possibilities and empowerment, especially if you have survived child abuse, in whatever form. Bullies at school, parents that should have never been parents, adult predators, and even those who simply refused to show you all the wonderful things inside of you. Your possibilities are endless.

The characters in this book tell the story of what happened to them when they were young. All grown up, successful leaders, and inspirational lives, they still carry pain from when they were young. The difference is, that pain does not limit them from what they can do. They carry it with them so they have the fuel to do even more! It is about defeating the #PTSD demon trying to remove all hope.

Is your enemy within skin?

The things I survived were bad, but what was worse, was what I did to myself afterward. The things I heard in my head, made me beat myself up more than my ex-husband did. In other words, I did more damage to me long after I got away from him than he could ever do to me. #PTSD is what comes to those who survive and won't give up until we deliver the eviction notice in the form of compassion for ourselves.

This picture is Celia, the witch I think my bad voice in my head looks like. Her smug expression is when I give into whatever horrible thing she says I am as if she won something. The thing is, she may win for a time, and the tears come, but the "win" never lasts long. I refuse to surrender to the enemy within my skin.

This is a good article on what we do to ourselves after others did it first. If you take one thing away from this, I hope you realize that you do not have to surrender yourself to your Celia and have the power within you to heal the wounds created by others as much as you can heal the self-inflicted wounds you carry. 

Silencing Our Inner Critic After Attachment Trauma

How to overcome three common inner critic messages
Psychology Today
Annie Tanasugarn Ph.D., CCTSA
Posted January 28, 2023

KEY POINTS
One of the most common after-effects of childhood attachment trauma is the development of a harsh inner critic.
At the root of self-hate and self-neglect are conditioned beliefs that one isn't good enough to be loved or cared for.
Feelings of self-hate and self-neglect can generalize to self-sabotaging behavior where trauma enactment is likely.

One of the most common after-effects of childhood attachment trauma is the development of a harsh inner critic that replaces a person’s inner voice. By nature, we are hardwired to connect with others, which teaches us how to love and respect ourselves.

However, attachment trauma from abuse, neglect, abandonment, or invalidation forces a child to adapt to punitive environments where their sense of self becomes compromised. Instead of feeling connection and safety with those in their life, they learn survival mode. Instead of learning self-love and self-advocacy from a healthy upbringing, they forgo accepting themselves in exchange for compulsively trying to become what they believe their caregivers will want.

What Is Our Inner Critic?

Anyone can develop negative feelings towards their choices or behavior, especially in vulnerable moments. However, what separates negative feelings from a cruel inner critic is a sense of worthlessness at its core message. Negative feelings based on making a poor choice relate to guilt, whereas the messages connected to an inner critic relate to shame.

Thus, negative feelings associated with guilt may include a person saying, “I made a mistake,” whereas the message received from shame may include, “I am a mistake.”
read more here