48 ratings | 22 reviews | avg rating:4.73

Michael A. Brown’s Followers (18)

Michael’s Bookshelves

to-read (0)
currently-reading (4)
read (53)

Michael’s Friends (14)

Lizzy Clark

3,963 books | 66 friends

Eric Brown

1 book | 24 friends

Jennifer Kiršić Cassidy

3 books | 4 friends

Zoe Ranucci

0 books | 14 friends

Heather Burdette Godbey

1 book | 6 friends

100 books | 151 friends

Alveniece Vaughn

1,188 books | 87 friends

Fran

49 books | 94 friends

More friends…

Michael A. Brown

Goodreads Author

Twitter

TellMyselfFirst

Member Since

December 2019

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/mikebrown1001

edit data

Learn more
Ask the Author

To ask Michael A. Brown questions, please sign up.

Popular Answered Questions

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Michael A. Brown I am not an author by trade. I became one by trauma. I am the product of child abuse in both physical and mental forms. The reasons? I still couldn’t …moreI am not an author by trade. I became one by trauma. I am the product of child abuse in both physical and mental forms. The reasons? I still couldn’t tell you what I had done to earn physical chastisement. Usually, children remember some of the things they did to earn punishment. I don’t. I then began to hate my mother. I never understood, as most children don’t, why a mother who is supposed to be your guardian would physically chastise me like she did. I then began to run away into the arms of my grandmother.

Growing up, I would move between my mother’s and grandmother’s homes from time to time. In both homes, my brother, sister, uncle, and I went to various churches. As time passed, my mother inherited property as a result of my great-grandmother’s death. My mother appeared to have been fascinated with the church, as is the tradition among African Americans to have either been born into Christianity and attend church or seek Christianity, its assistance, and fellowship in a time of need. A building plan was finalized and donations were being solicited from the church members to erect it.

My mother, believing bigger giving equaled bigger and faster lottery-like blessings, refinanced her inherited property, being our residence. She then donated over 85% (approximately $30,000) of the finances from the loan to the church. The building would never be built. Her donation and neglect of the duties for which the funds were acquired resulted in foreclosure of the property and us being in a homeless state, with mother never to question the disposition of the donation or demand its return. Why did a mother with children do such a thing? The need for assistance and association in time of need, I would later learn, is the doorway by which some self-proclaimed pastors capitalize on those in said state to acquire, among other things, monetary donations while delivering spiritual stimulation as the payback. Mother gave all selflessly for the promise of earthly riches that would never come. She passed in 2018.

Fast-forwarding to late 2019, I was helping an anger management client with issues related to her anger. In doing so, I learned that a great percentage of anger happens when childhood voids, created by broken parents, are imparted in children thereby continuing to reside in now-anatomically/statutorily mature adults. These voids are the motivations for the often ill-prepared or toxic choices we make as adults. This would be the revelation I would learn in the wake of mother’s passing: those who seek to use you will spot your voids and capitalize on them for their own gain. I then could not continue to hate my mother for the pain she caused, for I now knew the motivation which influenced her choices. She was broken. As a result, I became broken. I then loved her again. I understood her. I then set out to find solutions to change what parents don’t do and what children don’t know: how to address the real world and prepare for the inevitable to achieve self-actualization. I always heard of affirmations. Plenty of books have them, usually filled with “I am” this and that. But they leave out the real-world attacks that parents know are coming. They hide the truth from our children.(less)

flag

like
Comment

See 1 answer from Michael A. Brown…

Combine Editions
Michael A. Brown’s books

Average rating: 4.71 · 154 ratings · 121 reviews · 25 distinct works • Similar authors

	What I Tell Myself First: Children's Real-World Affirmations of Self Esteem by Michael A. Brown (Goodreads Author), Zoe Ranucci (Illustrator) 4.55 avg rating — 74 ratings — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Impatient Patience by Michael A. Brown (Goodreads Author), Lovyaa Garg (Illustrator), Michelle Mathews (Editor) 4.94 avg rating — 35 ratings — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	What I Tell Myself About NO by Michael A. Brown (Goodreads Author), Michelle Mathews (Editor) 4.93 avg rating — 14 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Mommy, Daddy Please Teach Me! by Michael A. Brown (Goodreads Author), Michelle Mathews, Zoe Ranucci (Illustrator) 4.78 avg rating — 9 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	My Black Life Matters by Michael A. Brown (Goodreads Author), Michele Mathews (Goodreads Author) (Editor) 4.83 avg rating — 6 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Unconditionally Conditional: How They Love Me. How They Love Each Other. How They Love Others. 4.33 avg rating — 6 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	What I Tell Myself About Talent by Michael A. Brown (Goodreads Author), Lovyaa Garg (Illustrator) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Stuck in Fck: The Aftermath of After-A$$ How to Unfck Your Parental Past by Michael A. Brown (Goodreads Author), Michelle Mathews 4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	What I Tell Myself About Self-Protection by Michael A. Brown (Goodreads Author), Ilham Fatkurahman (Illustrator) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	I Believe in You. Just Not That! it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars