Advice from a trauma survivor re: emotions regarding the trial

As we all know, this trial is very hard to watch. It's inevitably going to bring up a lot of difficult feelings. It's definitely going to exacerbate any existing feelings you might have already had going into the trial. It's very natural and healthy even to be struggling with a topic as horrific as this one.

Here's my advice: Feel your feelings. Emotions are sensations in the body. Move your body (do some stretches, light yoga, go for a walk or a run, anything really) and notice what comes up when you do. Then, show kind regard and curiosity about those feelings. Investigate them as you would a friendly detective (I like to imagine Columbo asking questions lol). This should uncover all kinds of helpful insights.

Then, express them. Write them down. Talk to someone you love and trust to take your feelings seriously and make space for them. I would recommend doing this before talking about them with strangers on the internet, because they are not obligated to do any of that and likely are grappling with feelings of their own.

Once you've done this, you begin to "resolve" the feelings and you will feel a huge difference in your body and in your thoughts.

Hope this helps. Lots of love to everyone struggling with sitting through this trial. Thanks for reading.

PS- I learned these strategies from my time in the IOP at McLean. If you're interested in learning more, there are tons of great books on the topic. Pete Walker's "The Tau of Fully Feeling" is one of them. If you have more recs, drop them in the comments!