“When you have survived narcissistic abuse, the experience is a harrowing ordeal where your body, mind, and very essence felt violated. Some feel fragmented, forcibly separated from their own being, stripped of safety, security, and sanity.
One day, survivors will reflect upon this harrowing pain as a pivotal moment that shaped their lives.
The experience of trauma transforms individuals, equipping them with the honed skills of a detective and the agility of a ninja, acquired during their pursuit of understanding the abuse. With these remarkable abilities, they embark on a profound journey of healing.”
“You weren't supposed to pick up the rocks, but sea glass wasn't natural. It was man-made, improved by nature, a reminder that anything can be broken. All rough edges made smooth.
pg. 90”
Source: No Two Persons
“Sometimes it's about working with your bad parts, not fixing them.”
Source: Nowhere Near You
“At first he, whose acting had been so active, found the not-moving strange. His first fencing coach had always talked about stillness in motion, the inner calm within the outward movement. This was the opposite. Motion in stillness. Everything held in the voice.”
Source: No Two Persons
“I want to know that there was nothing I could have done to stop you from hurting me. All I did was exist.”
Source: How Roses Grow Thorns
“Moving on felt like burying my past self all over again and swearing to never visit her grave, even if she just wanted flowers. I couldn't bring myself to abandon her entirely.”
Source: How Roses Grow Thorns
“Here's the other thing I think about. It makes little sense to try to control what happens to your remains when you are no longer around to reap the joys or benefits of that control. People who make elaborate requests concerning disposition of their bodies are probably people who have trouble with the concept of not existing. [...] I imagine it is a symptom of the fear, the dread, of being gone, of the refusal to accept that you no longer control, or even participate in, anything that happens on earth. I spoke about this with funeral director Kevin McCabe, who believes that decisions concerning the disposition of a body should be mad by the survivors, not the dead. "It's non of their business what happens to them whey the die," he said to me. While I wouldn't go that far, I do understand what he was getting at: that the survivors shouldn't have to do something they're uncomfortable with or ethically opposed to. Mourning and moving on are hard enough. Why add to the burden? If someone wants to arrange a balloon launch of the deceased's ashes into inner space, that's fine. But if it is burdensome or troubling for any reason, then perhaps they shouldn't have to.”
Source: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
“The best advice I ever got was, “Whatever you keep in the center of your life, that thing will always drive you. If it is your Higher Power, it will drive you to healing and purpose; if it is pleasure or any other thing, you’ll dig your own grave and justify yourself while doing it.”
Source: Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose
“And I struggled with lust in the same way. While some people are freed overnight, for me it was a very hard, very slow, very intentional process that has taken over a decade.. There was no quick fix or magic solution, but there has been a lot of healing over time.”
Source: Pursued: God’s relentless pursuit and a drug addict’s journey to finding purpose
“Learning to experience and tolerate deep emotions is essential for recovery from trauma.”
Source: The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma