This book is a handbook for increasing your emotional intelligence. Moreover, if you are a survivor of a dysfunctional family, it is a guide for repairing the damage done to your emotional nature in childhood. The Tao of Fully Feeling focuses primarily on the emotional healing level of trauma recovery. It is a safe handbook for grieving losses of childhood. Whether or not you are a childhood trauma survivor, this book is a guide to emotional health. The degree of our mental health is often reflected in the degree to which we love and respect ourselves and others in a myriad of different feeling states. Real self-esteem and real intimacy with others depends on the ability to lovingly be there for oneself and others, whether one's feeling experience is pleasant or unpleasant.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The disease of emotional emaciation is epidemic, and it is killing millions of people. We are becoming more and more driven and compulsive, and we are losing the ability to experience peace. #2 We cannot be whole human beings if we only experience the positive emotions. We need the darker emotions to access the infinite range of color, hue, and tone that makes life beautiful. #3 When we befriend our emotions, we suffer less from self-destructive flights from feelings. We accept the reality that our emotional nature, like the weather, changes unpredictably with a variety of pleasant and unpleasant conditions. #4 Forgiving your parents is a very personal process, and one that should not be rushed. Real forgiveness, as opposed to false forgiveness, requires the opening up of your pain channels so that you can begin to feel your feelings.

Homesteading in the Calm Eye of the Storm is a companion book to my self-help book: COMPLEX PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving. Homesteading is also a memoir of my journey of recovering from C-PTSD. Written in a more playful, easier to read style than my other books, it is much less dense and relatively free of psychological jargon. Several previewers have described it as rich, poignant, funny and full of self-disclosive anecdotes that are sure to help other survivors in their recovery. "Homesteading" has two parts. In Part I, I escape from my dysfunctional family and backpack around the world seeking happiness while I unconsciously flee my suffering. In Part II, I wander into the jungles of psychological theory and technique. I shift my focus from global adventurer to inner world explorer. The many hits and misses of my recovery efforts are detailed in this book. Eventually, I discover what works, and gradually move from struggling to survive to discovering how to thrive. Very gradually I find meaning, belonging and fulfillment. My fear shrinks, my toxic shame melts away, and peace of mind becomes my touchstone. My psyche heals as my self-kindness, self-care, and self-protection continuously grow. Eventually, I break the pattern of being attracted to painful relationships that mirror my experiences with my parents. This in turn frees me to find a number of truly intimate and comforting relationships.

A mind-body workbook for healing and overcoming Complex PTSD Those affected by complex PTSD, or C-PTSD, commonly feel as though there is something fundamentally wrong with them—that somewhere inside there is a part of them that needs to be fixed. Facing one's PTSD is a brave, courageous act—and with the right guidance, recovery is possible. In The Complex PTSD Workbook, you'll learn all about C-PTSD and gain valuable insight into the types of symptoms associated with unresolved childhood trauma. Take healing into your own hands while applying strategies to help integrate positive beliefs and behaviors. Discover your path to recovery with: Examples and exercises—Uncover your own instances of trauma with PTSD activities designed to teach you positive strategies. Expert guidance—Explore common PTSD diagnoses and common methods of PTSD therapy including somatic therapy, CBT, and mind-body perspectives. Prompts and reflections—Apply the strategies you've learned and identify PTSD symptoms with insightful writing prompts. Find the tools you need to work through C-PTSD and regain emotional control with this mind-body workbook.

Liberate yourself from the limitations and judgments imposed by your inner critic, and develop “soul qualities” to experience freedom and vitality Whether we call it the inner critic or the superego, most of us have a judge within who nags us and is constantly on our case. Byron Brown provides a comprehensive guide to understanding how the inner critic works as well as practical, positive suggestions for breaking free of it. Using straightforward language and everyday examples, you’ll explore: • Where the inner judge came from • How it operates • Why it trips us up • Why we believe we need it • How to develop awareness of it • How to disengage from it • The "soul qualities" we can develop to weaken its influence Each chapter begins with an episode of the story of Frank and Sue to illustrate the insidious nature of the inner critic inside all of us. A simple exercise is also included at the end of each chapter, designed to help readers move along the path of self-discovery.

This classic book, written 17 years ago but still selling more than 13,000 copies every year, has been completely updated and expanded by the author. "I used to drink," writes John Bradshaw,"to solve the problems caused by drinking. The more I drank to relieve my shame-based loneliness and hurt, the more I felt ashamed." Shame is the motivator behind our toxic behaviors: the compulsion, co-dependency, addiction and drive to superachieve that breaks down the family and destroys personal lives. This book has helped millions identify their personal shame, understand the underlying reasons for it, address these root causes and release themselves from the shame that binds them to their past failures.

A large segment of the population struggles with feelings of being detached from themselves and their loved ones. They feel flawed, and blame themselves. Running on Empty will help them realize that they're suffering not because of something that happened to them in childhood, but because of something that didn't happen. It's the white space in their family picture, the background rather than the foreground. This will be the first self-help book to bring this invisible force to light, educate people about it, and teach them how to overcome it.

For survivors of PTSD and repeated, relational trauma -- and the people who love them. Gretchen Schmelzer watched too many people quit during treatment for trauma recovery. They found it too difficult or too frightening or just decided that for them it was too late. But as a therapist and trauma survivor herself, Dr. Schmelzer wants us to know that it is never too late to heal from trauma, whether it is the suffering caused within an abusive relationship or PTSD resulting from combat. Sometimes what feels like a big setback is actually an unexpected difficult step forward. So she wrote Journey Through Trauma specifically for survivors--to help them understand the terrain of the healing process and stay on the path. There are three basic principles that every trauma survivor should know: Healing is possible. It requires courage. And it cannot be done alone. Traumas that happen more than once--child abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence, gang violence, even war--are all relational traumas. They happened inside a relationship and therefore must be healed inside a relationship, whether that relationship is with a therapist or within a group. Journey Through Trauma gives us a map to help guide us through that healing process, see where the hard parts show up, and persevere in the process of getting well. We learn the five phases that every survivor must negotiate along the way and come to understand that since the cycle of healing is not linear, circling back around to a previous stage does not mean defeat - it actually means progress as well as facing new challenges. Authoritative and accessible, Journey Through Trauma provides support for survivors and their loved ones through one of the most challenging but necessary processes of healing that anyone can face.

AARP Digital Editions offer you practical tips, proven solutions, and expert guidance. In Healing Your Emotional Self, Beverly Engel provides a program to help readers raise their self-esteem, quiet their inner critic, and overcome their shame. Those who were emotionally abused or neglected in childhood tend to suffer from self-criticism, low self-esteem, self-doubt, a poor body image, perfectionism, and unhealthy shame. Now renowned psychotherapist Beverly Engel presents a psychologically sound, step-by-step program to help adult survivors heal the damage to their self-image caused by negative parental messages and treatment. Healing Your Emotional Self shows readers how to become reunited with their true self, quiet their inner critic, raise their self-esteem, and begin to love their body. Engel also teaches survivors how to separate emotionally from their parents and provide for themselves what they missed as a child.