My husband’s cancer, diagnosed in 2009 and treated over the next two years, did not traumatize me. “What do you mean by that,” you might ask. “Wasn’t it intense and scary and didn’t you cry?” Yes, yes, and yes. But genuine trauma overwhelms our coping abilities and leaves unprocessed feelings stuffed away. We walk away …
Tag Archives: abuse
Letter to a Lost Parent
When a parent dies who was not the parent we needed, we may feel a very complicated grief. If we’ve mourned the loss over the years of his/her life, the grief will be less. If we have continued to hope for a loving, attentive father or mother, grief will be much more difficult and …
Power to Make Peace
We can choose forgiveness long before we feel forgiving. In fact, we will choose to cancel the debt before we feel like it. If we wait until we feel like it, we’ll never forgive. Releasing the pursuit of revenge involves several factors. Identifying the sin, identifying and feeling our emotions, developing empathy for the sinner, …