As we move away from the old role in which we were helplessly entrapped as a victim, we make friends with the people who affirm us. Their enthusiasm about us mirrors the positive experience we are having.

— Maureen Brady

Because we were treated neglectfully and abusively in our young years—when we most needed self-love to be mirrored—it was difficult to hold onto… We take up the challenge of learning to love ourselves, through our highs & our lows, when we are finding acceptance from others and when we are being closed out and rejected.

— Maureen Brady

Denial protected us, screening out certain experiences & feelings until we grew strong enough to relate to them... Yet it also dropped a curtain over our experience, obscuring it, leaving us with a sense of missing pieces. For instance, when we achieved something, we felt like an imposter. Or, though we had a relationship with a significant other, we often felt alone and unrelated to anyone.

— Maureen Brady

Even if our survival skills have become impediments we would like to let go of because they have ceased to serve us, we can still love ourselves with them. In appreciation of our survival, we can be awed at how our resources brought us through, even when these resources were things like indifference, a wall of rage, a cold heart… We learn to embrace ourselves as humans with faults and problems.

— Maureen Brady

Fearing the unknown within myself has kept me crouching in a corner. I look to see who I am and discover much that is worthy.

— Maureen Brady

For change to occur in us, we must be willing to enter the wilderness of the unknown and to wander in unfamiliar territory, directionless and often in the darkness.... We do not need to keep every little thing under control. In fact, we find ourselves only by allowing some falling apart to happen.

— Maureen Brady

I am a whole person and have the potential to bring together all the different aspects of myself.

— Maureen Brady

I am building a healthy support system and learning to use it readily.

— Maureen Brady

I am empowered by self-knowledge, by ownership of my experiences, and by all aspects of myself.

— Maureen Brady

I am filled with truth at my center where I once held shame.

— Maureen Brady