Have you suffered from emotional abuse? Many of us have. For many years I was chained to the past. Angry and stuck. Yes, I had a reason to be angry, but the longer I held onto the past hurts, the more I hurt myself. Real power to heal and live my life came when I stopped holding "others" responsible for my "present" situation and took responsibility for my own feelings and how I would choose to respond to the adversity that had occurred in my life. I came to a realization that it was entirely possible to win against the "enemy", and still be defeated by the battle. I let the emotional abuse cause me to dig a grave for myself. I was digging a grave for not only my life, but the lives of those around me. Yes, I hurt a lot of the time, but I could still take the necessary actions to allow myself to heal and have a wonderful life. The more anger I carried in my heart towards the past, the less capable I became of feeling peace in the present. I wasn't able to love or be loved. It was like the past was dictating not only my present but also my future. Emotional abuse does not have to define us. Nor does our past have to define our future. The more I came to that realization, the more power I found to live my life as I chose. Yes, I remembered my scars, but slowly they began to remind me of where I had been, but not where I was going. Choices, that is what this is about. There are several choices that you will need to make if your going to find peace and joy in your life once again (or for the first time if you've never felt them). One is to choose to connect with others. Many of us think that all we need is God and "ourselves". But actually God uses others to help in the healing process. It is in fellowship and communion with others that we find encouragement, hope and ultimately...healing. Of course, all too often we have chosen to connect with others in the past that were "toxic" in nature. They weren't good for us. Too often we played the victim and continued to repeat the same destructive patterns over and over again. Surrounding ourselves with people that loved to tear us down. Rarely did we seek out those that would love and nurture, and if we did, we felt extremely uncomfortable. Life is way too short to fill your space with people that don't want the best for you! Boundaries are a necessity when it comes to keeping those that would hurt you emotionally, at a distance. It's because we felt "shame" and unworthiness that we invited these ugly intruders into our life. We were all too familiar with being criticized and rejected because of the past experiences in our childhood. But I'm here to tell you that it doesn't have to be that way! We felt undeserving and unloveable, but that is not the truth. Emotional abuse can be something that happened to us, but it does not have to have the power to tell us who we are today. I'm including a link that may help you understand the effects of emotional abuse and how that can lead to codependency issues. Recovering From Emotional Abuse From Parents http://youtu.be/GyndmES9Azw

• published: 02 Jul 2013
• views: 11