The Journey to Self Discovery

Trauma generates emotions, and unless we process these emotions at the time the trauma occurs, they become stuck in our mind and body. Instead of healing from the wounding event, the trauma stays in our body as energy in our unconscious, affecting our life until we uncover it and process it out.  The healthy flow and processing of distressing emotions, such as anger, sadness, shame, and fear, is essential to healing from childhood trauma as an adult.  The healthiest response to childhood emotional wounds is also the rarest: When the trauma first occurs, we recognize the violation it has caused to our sense of self, feel the natural emotions that follow, and then realize that the violation doesn’t say anything about us personally — and thus we don’t make negative meaning of it and can let it go. But because emotions like anger and sadness are painful — and because crying or confronting others is often not socially acceptable — this proc...

From Silence to Strength: Reclaiming Your Life After Abuse I was only five years old when it began – just a child. I was an expressive, lively, yet serious little girl who loved to laugh and sing around the house. To him, however, I was merely an object for his depraved desires. He always had his eyes on me, and what I now refer to as "the incidents" became a disturbing routine. It became so routine, in fact, that I believed it was normal. He touched me at every opportunity he had. He didn’t care the time of day or who else was home; all he needed was a five-minute window, and he took advantage. Afterward, I always felt dirty, scrubbing my skin raw and painful with a Brillo pad in the shower. I knew what he was doing was wrong, but he would always look me directly in the eyes and tell me never to tell. I kept his secret, even when my spirit longed to speak, silenced by the deceptive allure of the gifts I received. Then one day, a few months before my ninth birthday, I final...