What is the effect of trauma? Intrusions, as Judith Herman calls them. Thoughts, feelings, avoidances that come and go, seemingly beyond our control. And I think trauma–and the American habit of never sustaining focus on anything–are the two principle enemies of Present-Centeredness; and the former, at least, is in my view best not dealt with directly.
All wisdom must be assigned a time, place, and person. What is splendid one moment for one person can be profoundly destructive for another person in the same moment.
In this respect, I will reiterate my personal fondness for Sufism–or, rather, to the body of practice and ideas which is most usefully aggregated under that term, to the extent such a thing is possible.
One saying that has stayed with me is that wisdom cannot be withheld from one ready for it, and cannot be given by anyone unready for it. Every day you walk blindly by everything you could ever need to know about this universe. So do I. And we are both imbeciles.