Sometimes the greatest gift you can give someone that is suffering is just your kind, non-anxious, non-judgemental presence. No advice, no words. Just joining them, combining your tears with theirs. Few things are more healing in times of great suffering.
As always Wade Mullen is able to brilliantly describe very complex abuse strategies. I usually like to quote the article I share but there are too many to choose from. Thank you Wade for continuing to bring light to these dark systemic issues.
open.substack.com/pub/wademull...
“As we watch the military being deployed against American citizens and against the will of a state governor, and as we prepare to watch a military parade transform the nation’s capital, it’s appropriate to pay attention to echoes from the past.”
open.substack.com/pub/kristind...
“Here is a gut-wrenching truth about the by-product of trauma: the harm you do to yourself through self-contempt is greater than the harm that has been done to you. By "self-contempt" I simply mean harshness from you to you. The opposite of self-contempt is kindness.”
Adam Young
“A year of kindness toward your own heart will take you further on your healing journey than a year of weekly therapy with your dream therapist. This is not a jab at the counseling profession; it is an observation about the power of self-kindness to evoke change in the human heart.”
Adam Young
“A critical part of the story of White Americans is that we stole the land we now live on, destroyed the native inhabitants of America, and enslaved an untold number of Africans to produce wealth for us.”
- Adam Young
Make Sense of Your Story
ch9 What if you explored your collective/cultural story?
Watching how often power wins, especially when those clamoring for power, develop strategies for takeovers, misinformation and silencing the marginalized, is enough to make one despair. Continuing to fight to choose the way of love and hope.
“Learning love is accepting the invitation to reclaim the truth of our belovedness.
Learning love is letting ourselves be loved fully and extravagantly.
We learn to trust that in this love we come to the fulfillment of our humanity and the fulfillment of our calling.”
David Benner
“Because God is love, and because human beings are made in God's image, love is who we are. Love is not, first and foremost, something that we do. More basically, it is who we are.”
David Benner
Like most abusive narcissists he is figuring out where he can push limits and will justify it by saying “it was a joke, you’re so sensitive.” He is grooming a nation.
str.sg/3qpQD
Curiosity, kindness, compassion… will lead to much more fruitful conversations with others and yourself.
“Love cannot be simply a result of discipline and resolve. It must flow from the heart. Regardless of the amount of love I naturally tend to have in my heart, it is not enough. The love I need is the love of God as his love becomes mine.”
David Benner
“Love is the acid test of Christian spirituality. If Christian conversion is authentic, we are in the process of becoming more loving. If we are not becoming more loving, something is seriously wrong.” David Benner
"Our aim should be to develop a spontaneous attachment love for our enemies, where loving them becomes a more natural outflow of our deep connection with God."
James Wilder
A person’s mistreatment of animals is often an indication of their lack of empathy for people.
What a difference it would make to think of people, earth, well actually all of creation as something to nurture and care for and not to use.
"Our aim should be to develop a spontaneous attachment love for our enemies, where loving them becomes a more natural outflow of our deep connection with God."
James Wilder
"Without attachment love for, and inspiration from God, we will never get to the point of truly loving our enemies. It's impossible to do so on our own."
James Wilder
"The ability to love our enemies serves as a crucial litmus test for our apprenticeship to Jesus. It reveals the depth of our transformation."
James Wilder
"Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it."
"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools." MLK Jr
"The nector of Love alone can destroy the poison of hate."
Gandhi
Proverbs 10:12: "Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses."
Fear and hate are the easiest things to give into, but also the most destructive. Fight to choose love instead.
It’s a battle sometimes to choose love instead of giving into hate.
"Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. Indeed, it is a weapon unique in history, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals."
MLK Jr
Romans 12:9: "Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good."
Matthew 5:43-44: "You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."
"Hatred can be overcome only by love."
Gandhi
"Let no man pull you so low as to hate him." MLK Jr
