Strength

Modifying a quote from Facebook: A person’s strength isn’t just about how much they can handle before they break.  It’s also about how much they must handle after they are broken. Healing LightToday’s Message – We never truly know how strong we are until we’re tested. Meltdown….the firing kiln over heated until the bricks from…

Mini Rant

I am reading more and more information on PTSD.  I am trying to share more than just my perspective.  I am also looking for other links to share and give people a wider base of information.  I am discouraged when I come across those that portray PTSD the end of all living and hopelessly stuck. …

self-respect

Respect your efforts, respect yourself. Self-respect leads to self-discipline. When you have both firmly under your belt, that’s real power. – Clint Eastwood

Challenge

Evan commented yesterday that taking control of my life is not accurate.  He phrased it nicer.  Life happens.  My participation when I have victim thinking is a bit like driftwood tossed into a raging river.  Healthier thinking, I am a person on that driftwood with my hands paddling like mad to get to where I…

Self-regulation

One of my counselors goals was to convince me that I had control over my own life.  I was raised with the ‘you must’, ‘I have to’, ‘I can’t’ and other statements indicating that I was turning my life over to someone else to regulate my behavior.  One time when I stated that “I had…

Authenticity

Authenticity 1. The quality or condition of being authentic, trustworthy, or genuine.  dictionary.search.yahoo.com Ooo boy was this ever a toughy for me.  I first had to understand that my whole life was built on lies, half truths, and fear.  My counselor held the mirror while I looked at my past.  I didn’t remember any of…

Back to basics

Back to basics is a buzz word at school referring to the need to teach reading, writing and arithmetic.  Getting back to basics in psychological terms is boundaries, authenticity, and self-regulation.  Child abuse interferes with learning these basics.  My boundaries were violated so often and so completely I didn’t even know what they were.  Simply…

Victim to survivor to thrivor

I’m fairly sure the last one is not a word, but it needs to be.  Thriving was not part of my vocabulary.  I understood taking orders, I knew how to survive; it is like I knew how to drive a tank but didn’t know how to walk down a city street.  I do believe some…