This might sound cynical to some who have really been challenged by external events, such as trauma, illness, death of someone really close etc. Yet even in the case of childhood trauma it’s the reaction to events that causes the suffering.
The point to be made though, is that whereas an adult can address his/her thoughts to help address his/her feelings, a child doesn’t have the cognitive capacity to do so.
The result is unconscious reaction to events that are outside of the control of the child.
Which is why going through a certain experience as an adult ie. overcoming a serious illness or experiencing someone’s death, can have a very different impact on the child’s life compared to the adult’s going through the same kind of experience.
And this sometimes creates defense-mechanisms such as really high levels of anxiety, OCD, aggressive behaviour or anger bursts, addiction etc.
In the case of regular anxiety instead, oftentimes the anxiety is created by the thoughts and the feelings created as a result of the thoughts cause the suffering, in which case it is most definitely not about what happens to you, but rather what happens within you.
No matter what has happened to you, you don’t have to live with it for the rest of your life.
Trauma can be resolved and the freedom that comes with it has no equals.