Summary

The author begins this chapter with a description of how an unexpected encounter with grief-free joy (while dancing at a function with a friend) suddenly turned into pain and remorse. This, the author says, can be connected to what the author describes as survivor’s guilt, an experience common to anyone who has come through any kind of trauma while others have experienced a great loss. Such experiences, she suggests, are common to loved ones of those who have died; those who have kept their jobs while others have lost theirs; or survivors of disasters that have killed many others. The author then uses this commentary as a springboard for a discussion on the value of re-discovering joy after trauma – how it combats pervasiveness (i.e. one of the three p’s); how it helps re-establish self-compassion (see Chapter 4); and...