Search quotes

Link	Quote	Tags	Author
048f24e	Because we were treated neglectfully and abusively in our young years--when we most needed self-love to be mirrored--it was difficult to hold onto...We take up the challenge of learning to love ourselves, through our highs & our lows, when we are finding acceptance from others and when we are being closed out and rejected.	love-yourself child-abuse-survivors child-neglect emotional-neglect self-love-quotes recovery-from-abuse healing-from-abuse child-abuse healing-insights self-acceptance healing self-love emotional-abuse neglect	Maureen Brady
92be70d	Power is confusing for us, perhaps even terrifying, because our relationship with it had an unfortunate beginning. Someone in a position of power over us used and abused us...It seems as if power were something to be wielded, always at someone's expense, usually our own.	abuse-survivors abuse-of-authority abuse-of-power abuse-of-trust abusive-parenting misuse-of-power parental-authority survivor-of-abuse child-sexual-abuse-survivor child-abuse survivor healing powerlessness powerless power child-sexual-abuse	Maureen Brady
ec52b84	When we are ready to let go of our old controls, we admit that we were powerless over the incest or abuse...We have often thought, 'If only I could have stopped it,' but we could not have stopped it. We let go of the 'if only' now and sit still with our stark powerlessness...In our surrender to powerlessness, we touch ourselves with the gift of truth.	abuse-survivors letting-go truth survivor-of-abuse survivors-of-abuse child-sexual-abuse-survivor if-only child-abuse survivor healing abuse-recovery powerlessness powerless child-sexual-abuse incest	Maureen Brady
ead270a	Our need to be "greater than" or "less than" has been a defense against toxic shame. A shameful act was committed upon us. The perpetrator walked away, leaving us with the shame. We absorbed the notion that we are somehow defective. To cover for this we constructed a false self, a masked self. And it is this self that is the overachiever or the dunce, the tramp or the puritan, the powermonger or the pathetic loser."	ashamed coverup defective defective-humans false-self feeling-bad hidden-feelings hidden-pain hidden-self overachiever power-trip toxic-shame child-sexual-abuse-survivor recovery-from-abuse dunce loser healing-insights survivor puritan healing true-self shame child-sexual-abuse incest	Maureen Brady
ae23b74	When shame is met with compassion and not received as confirmation of our guilt, we can begin to see how slant a lens it has had us looking through. That awareness lets us step back far enough to see that if we can let it go, we will see ourselves as clean where we once thought we were dirty. We will remember our innocence. We will see how our shame supported a system in which the perpetrators were protected and we bore the brunt of their o..	freedom abusers perpetrators abuser burdens-of-the-past imperfect peptrator perfectly-imperfect false-guilt recovery-from-abuse healing-from-abuse innocence-lost offense child-rape healing-insights perfectionism healing innocence shame recovery guilt child-sexual-abuse incest sexual-abuse survivors	Maureen Brady
7240f03	When we first begin to take power more directly, after long having kept our relationship to it underground...it is natural that we experience anxiety, even guilt, at putting ourselves first. These feeling let us know we are taking action; they do not need to stop us.	assertiveness child-sexual-abuse-survivor false-guilt empowering healing-insights healing anxiety power guilt survivors	Maureen Brady
9563645	The bridge out of shame is outrage. Suddenly the obvious becomes stunningly clear--we have been carrying shame for the crime of the offender...In a clear flash we may see ourselves standing in a fierce stance, grounded by our knowledge, ready to throw off any wrongdoer. Our outrage can be a fueling energy, capable of making us as steely as we need to be.	rape rage recovery-from-abuse healing-from-abuse outrage child-rape healing-insights healing shame crime recovery child-sexual-abuse incest	Maureen Brady
eb1894c	I look upon the gift of my life as a wondrous journey.	healing-old-fears wondrous-journey soul-journey psyche integration survivor innocence child-sexual-abuse	Maureen Brady
9f0f26a	I choose what sort of relationship I want to have with my family of origin today.	choice empowerment soul-journey love-heals psyche integration life-journey healing wholeness	Maureen Brady
c425739	I am building a healthy support system and learning to use it readily.	healthy-relationships support-system sexual-abuse-healing soul-journey psyche boundaries support-group healing sharing support	Maureen Brady
491c703	We can ill afford to wait until we have worked through all our memories & feelings about incest before learning to rest & play. While it may seem to be a natural impulse to get to the bottom of things & purge ourselves fully, we need to regularly examine the full picture of our lives for balance along the way...Learning to rest & play is an essential part of our healing.	child-sexual-abuse-survivors recovery-from-abuse healing-insights healing-abuse healing-the-emotional-self healing incest survivors	Maureen Brady
5ff9694	Though our childhood abuse left us feeling someone ought to make reparation to us, if we wait a lifetime for that, we may never receive what we need. We choose instead to face the idea that from now on, we are going to take responsibility for caring for ourselves.	ask-for-forgiveness no-apologies reparation recovery-from-abuse healing-insights healing survivors	Maureen Brady
d7bba5c	It is a childish notion that once established, our boundaries will never be transgressed again...We shall have to stand for ourselves repeatedly for the rest of our lives. As we practice doing this, we come to greater ease...Eventually it may float over entirely into the positive realm--becoming only another chance to demonstrated our worthiness.	boundaries-quotes boundary-violations recovery-from-abuse boundaries healing-insights healing-abuse healing survivors	Maureen Brady
68aa796	I am a whole person and have the potential to bring together all the different aspects of myself.	integrataion whole-person sexual-abuse-healing sexual-abuse-survivor splitting-off psyche	Maureen Brady
222e4e2	I am filled with truth at my center where I once held shame.	truth core-truth sexual-abuse-healing healing-shame soul-searching healing-the-past healing soul	Maureen Brady
26b4635	I sometimes continue to see myself in split ways; it causes me trouble and contributes to a lack of satisfaction with myself.	sexual-abuse-survivor splitting-off healing-from-abuse psyche integration dissociation wholeness	Maureen Brady
6f9e074	I choose to let positive attitudes lighten my being today.	incest-healing inner-child-healing new-perception positve-attitude soul-journey painful-past self-love	Maureen Brady
40c71fd	I am empowered by self-knowledge, by ownership of my experiences, and by all aspects of myself.	positive-thinking expressive-arts healing-childhood-sexual-abuse journalling soul-journey healing-journey	Maureen Brady
0ce5d03	It is not my wish to stay home so much that I become isolated, but to use the comforting influence of my home to restore and gather myself after each step I take in my expanding ability to participate in the world.	home-as-sanctuary home-sweet-home personal-safety safe home safety	Maureen Brady
81f9dd0	As we move away from the old role in which we were helplessly entrapped as a victim, we make friends with the people who affirm us. Their enthusiasm about us mirrors the positive experience we are having.	moving-on friends empowerment affirming recovery-from-abuse healing-from-abuse thriver victim-role victim survivor healing friendships recovery survivors	Maureen Brady
6127008	I create a home that is a safe and nurturing place for me, where I am free to gather myself.	freedom home-sweet-home personal-safety safe-and-secure soul-journey healing-journey home safety	Maureen Brady

048f24e

Because we were treated neglectfully and abusively in our young years--when we most needed self-love to be mirrored--it was difficult to hold onto...We take up the challenge of learning to love ourselves, through our highs & our lows, when we are finding acceptance from others and when we are being closed out and rejected.

love-yourself child-abuse-survivors child-neglect emotional-neglect self-love-quotes recovery-from-abuse healing-from-abuse child-abuse healing-insights self-acceptance healing self-love emotional-abuse neglect

Maureen Brady

92be70d

Power is confusing for us, perhaps even terrifying, because our relationship with it had an unfortunate beginning. Someone in a position of power over us used and abused us...It seems as if power were something to be wielded, always at someone's expense, usually our own.

abuse-survivors abuse-of-authority abuse-of-power abuse-of-trust abusive-parenting misuse-of-power parental-authority survivor-of-abuse child-sexual-abuse-survivor child-abuse survivor healing powerlessness powerless power child-sexual-abuse

Maureen Brady

ec52b84

When we are ready to let go of our old controls, we admit that we were powerless over the incest or abuse...We have often thought, 'If only I could have stopped it,' but we could not have stopped it. We let go of the 'if only' now and sit still with our stark powerlessness...In our surrender to powerlessness, we touch ourselves with the gift of truth.

abuse-survivors letting-go truth survivor-of-abuse survivors-of-abuse child-sexual-abuse-survivor if-only child-abuse survivor healing abuse-recovery powerlessness powerless child-sexual-abuse incest

Maureen Brady

ead270a

Our need to be "greater than" or "less than" has been a defense against toxic shame. A shameful act was committed upon us. The perpetrator walked away, leaving us with the shame. We absorbed the notion that we are somehow defective. To cover for this we constructed a false self, a masked self. And it is this self that is the overachiever or the dunce, the tramp or the puritan, the powermonger or the pathetic loser."

ashamed coverup defective defective-humans false-self feeling-bad hidden-feelings hidden-pain hidden-self overachiever power-trip toxic-shame child-sexual-abuse-survivor recovery-from-abuse dunce loser healing-insights survivor puritan healing true-self shame child-sexual-abuse incest

Maureen Brady

ae23b74

When shame is met with compassion and not received as confirmation of our guilt, we can begin to see how slant a lens it has had us looking through. That awareness lets us step back far enough to see that if we can let it go, we will see ourselves as clean where we once thought we were dirty. We will remember our innocence. We will see how our shame supported a system in which the perpetrators were protected and we bore the brunt of their o..

freedom abusers perpetrators abuser burdens-of-the-past imperfect peptrator perfectly-imperfect false-guilt recovery-from-abuse healing-from-abuse innocence-lost offense child-rape healing-insights perfectionism healing innocence shame recovery guilt child-sexual-abuse incest sexual-abuse survivors

Maureen Brady

7240f03

When we first begin to take power more directly, after long having kept our relationship to it underground...it is natural that we experience anxiety, even guilt, at putting ourselves first. These feeling let us know we are taking action; they do not need to stop us.

assertiveness child-sexual-abuse-survivor false-guilt empowering healing-insights healing anxiety power guilt survivors

Maureen Brady

9563645

The bridge out of shame is outrage. Suddenly the obvious becomes stunningly clear--we have been carrying shame for the crime of the offender...In a clear flash we may see ourselves standing in a fierce stance, grounded by our knowledge, ready to throw off any wrongdoer. Our outrage can be a fueling energy, capable of making us as steely as we need to be.

rape rage recovery-from-abuse healing-from-abuse outrage child-rape healing-insights healing shame crime recovery child-sexual-abuse incest

Maureen Brady

eb1894c

I look upon the gift of my life as a wondrous journey.

healing-old-fears wondrous-journey soul-journey psyche integration survivor innocence child-sexual-abuse

Maureen Brady

9f0f26a

I choose what sort of relationship I want to have with my family of origin today.

choice empowerment soul-journey love-heals psyche integration life-journey healing wholeness

Maureen Brady

c425739

I am building a healthy support system and learning to use it readily.

healthy-relationships support-system sexual-abuse-healing soul-journey psyche boundaries support-group healing sharing support

Maureen Brady

491c703

We can ill afford to wait until we have worked through all our memories & feelings about incest before learning to rest & play. While it may seem to be a natural impulse to get to the bottom of things & purge ourselves fully, we need to regularly examine the full picture of our lives for balance along the way...Learning to rest & play is an essential part of our healing.

child-sexual-abuse-survivors recovery-from-abuse healing-insights healing-abuse healing-the-emotional-self healing incest survivors

Maureen Brady

5ff9694

Though our childhood abuse left us feeling someone ought to make reparation to us, if we wait a lifetime for that, we may never receive what we need. We choose instead to face the idea that from now on, we are going to take responsibility for caring for ourselves.

ask-for-forgiveness no-apologies reparation recovery-from-abuse healing-insights healing survivors

Maureen Brady

d7bba5c

It is a childish notion that once established, our boundaries will never be transgressed again...We shall have to stand for ourselves repeatedly for the rest of our lives. As we practice doing this, we come to greater ease...Eventually it may float over entirely into the positive realm--becoming only another chance to demonstrated our worthiness.

boundaries-quotes boundary-violations recovery-from-abuse boundaries healing-insights healing-abuse healing survivors

Maureen Brady

68aa796

I am a whole person and have the potential to bring together all the different aspects of myself.

integrataion whole-person sexual-abuse-healing sexual-abuse-survivor splitting-off psyche

Maureen Brady

222e4e2

I am filled with truth at my center where I once held shame.

truth core-truth sexual-abuse-healing healing-shame soul-searching healing-the-past healing soul

Maureen Brady

26b4635

I sometimes continue to see myself in split ways; it causes me trouble and contributes to a lack of satisfaction with myself.

sexual-abuse-survivor splitting-off healing-from-abuse psyche integration dissociation wholeness

Maureen Brady

6f9e074

I choose to let positive attitudes lighten my being today.

incest-healing inner-child-healing new-perception positve-attitude soul-journey painful-past self-love

Maureen Brady

40c71fd

I am empowered by self-knowledge, by ownership of my experiences, and by all aspects of myself.

positive-thinking expressive-arts healing-childhood-sexual-abuse journalling soul-journey healing-journey

Maureen Brady

0ce5d03

It is not my wish to stay home so much that I become isolated, but to use the comforting influence of my home to restore and gather myself after each step I take in my expanding ability to participate in the world.

home-as-sanctuary home-sweet-home personal-safety safe home safety

Maureen Brady

81f9dd0

As we move away from the old role in which we were helplessly entrapped as a victim, we make friends with the people who affirm us. Their enthusiasm about us mirrors the positive experience we are having.

moving-on friends empowerment affirming recovery-from-abuse healing-from-abuse thriver victim-role victim survivor healing friendships recovery survivors

Maureen Brady

6127008

I create a home that is a safe and nurturing place for me, where I am free to gather myself.

freedom home-sweet-home personal-safety safe-and-secure soul-journey healing-journey home safety

Maureen Brady