recovery

Recovery is not so much a dream at it is a plan.

The damage and invisible scars of_emotional abuse_are very difficult to heal, because memories are imprinted on our minds and hearts and it takes time to be restored. Imprints of past traumas do_not mean a person cannot change their future beliefs and behaviors. as people, we do not easily forget. However, as we heal, grieve, and let go, we become clear-minded and focused to live restore and emotionally healthy.

There comes a time for healingno matter how broken you are right now;no matter how heavy your heart is right now.There comes a time when you will go outsideand let the sun shine on your faceand let the wind touch your hairand you will not be tired by just simply being awake.There comes a time when you will be happy to be alive againand that day you will appreciate your own beingbecause now you know the other side.Now you know the opposite.Now you know what it__ like to not be sure if you really are; whoyou really are;if you simply are, anymore.And that daywill be the beginning of everything.

First, the physiological symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder have been brought within manageable limits. Second, the person is able to bear the feelings associated with traumatic memories. Third, the person has authority over her memories; she can elect both to remember the trauma and to put memory aside. Fourth, the memory of the traumatic event is a coherent narrative, linked with feeling. Fifth, the person's damaged self-esteem has been restored. Sixth, the person's important relationships have been reestablished. Seventh and finally, the person has reconstructed a coherent system of meaning and belief that encompasses the story of trauma.

Punishments include such things as flashbacks, flooding of unbearable emotions, painful body memories, flooding of memories in which the survivor perpetrated against others, self-harm, and suicide attempts.

I think that little by little I'll be able to solve my problems and survive.

Lumani had never managed a failed delivery because, in the end, no matter how skilled or how hard they fought back, pressure applied in the right places caused even the strongest men to fracture.But this one? He'd watched her. Studied her. Observed what maybe even Uncle, the reader of people, had missed. This one was already fractured, and the lines between her broken pieces were not fissures but scar material stronger than whatever had once filled those spaces.

Vulnerability scares most of us because we've been taught that FEELING our feelings is a sign of "over-sensitivity and weakness". We've taught ourselves to "numb" our feelings because they are too painful.We arrive at vulnerability when we allow ourselves to FEEL rather than think our feelings. It's an inside job of excavating away all the "stuff" that is in the way of reaching our heart, where love and vulnerability live.

You deserve this. Even when you feel like you don__. You do. You deserve to have a healthy, loving, grace-filled relationship with yourself. You deserve to stop hurting in secret and in shame. You deserve to fully experience life. You deserve to be heard and helped. You deserve everything the negative voices have told you you don__.

The only personYou shouldn't be ableTo live withoutIs you.

When you find yourself drowning in self-hate, you have to remind yourself that you weren__ born feeling this way. That at some point in your journey, some person or experience sent you the message that there was something wrong with who you are, and you internalized those messages and took them on as your truth. But that hate isn__ yours to carry, and those judgments aren__ about you. And in the same way that you learned to think badly of yourself, you can learn to think new, self-loving and accepting thoughts. You can learn to challenge those beliefs, take away their power, and reclaim your own. It won__ be easy, and it won__ happen over night. But it is possible. And it starts when you decide that there has to be more to life than this pain you feel. It starts when you decide that you deserve to discover it.

I want to share my story, and I want to know yours. I believe with all my heart that sharing our stories, the real, ugly, broken ones, is one of the most powerful things in the world, because to share our story we must first accept it. We must own it. We must stop running from it or shoving it into the corner when company comes over. To share our story is to admit that we've been changed.

The man who sins but wants to purify it is no more a sinner than the man who doesn't sin but wants to sin.

The day you believe __ou know everything_ you have just experienced the biggest failure of your life! Recovery might be difficult!

This is our purpose: to make as meaningful as possible this life that has been bestowed upon us . . . to live in such a way that we may be proud of ourselves, to act in such a way that some part of us lives on. This is our purpose: to make as meaningful as possible this life that has been bestowed upon us . . . to live in such a way that we may be proud of ourselves, to act in such a way that some part of us lives on.

it's not how far you fall, but how high you bounce that counts.

We're saying the story doesn't end here, that the air in your lungs is there for a reason.

In some ways, com­ing to terms with my­self and work­ing to­ward re­cov­ery has been like say­ing __ love you_ to some­one but keep­ing a loaded gun hid­den in your back pocket, just in case that per­son pisses you off enough.