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Karen C.L. Anderson

Goodreads Author

Born

The United States

Website

http://kclanderson.com

Twitter

KCLAnderson

Genre

Self Help, Memoir, Nonfiction

Influences

Brené Brown Christiane Northrup
Brooke Castillo
Elizabeth Gilbert
Debbie ...more

Member Since

January 2012

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Karen C.L. Anderson is a master-certified life coach, author, and blogger who makes sure adult daughters know how to create autonomy, resilience, and empowerment in their lives by helping them redefine who they are in relationship to their mothers.

Prior that? She spent seven years as a freelance writer and before that she spent 17 years trying to fit her right-brained self into a left-brained career as a trade magazine journalist in the field of plastics (and if she had a dime for every time someone mentioned that line from The Graduate…).

Karen is married to the love of her life, Tim Anderson (a left-brained engineer), and they live in New London, CT, with their two cats, Bella and Starla. Karen is child-free by choice, has three step kids, ...more

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

Karen C.L. Anderson I wrote The Peaceful Daughter's Guide To Separating From A Difficult Mother because I wanted to share my experience and the tools I used to create pea…moreI wrote The Peaceful Daughter's Guide To Separating From A Difficult Mother because I wanted to share my experience and the tools I used to create peace in what used to be a conflict-filled relationship with my mother.

I had read plenty of other books about narcissistic mothers and mothers who can't love, and while they were helpful, they were also rather clinical and dry. As I say in my book:

"Very often therapy and 'self help' provides an excuse to stay a lesser version of your possible self. They provide context for pathology, but don’t always give us a path toward healing and being able to feel whole. In some ways, they promote an 'acceptance' that limits our growth and potential. Until we learn it doesn’t have to be that way.

That’s not to say that therapy and books weren’t helpful or didn’t play an important role, because they most certainly were and did for me. In fact, I’d say they were key parts of the process.

It was a relief to have an explanation, but at first I found myself even more validated in feeling angry, sad, bitter, disappointed, and reactive. For a while, it was rather exhilarating. What I didn’t realize is that I went deeper into an unhealthy 'blame' mode than I ever had before, because I had adopted a deep-seated unconscious belief: It shouldn’t have been that way."

The Peaceful Daughter's Guide is not another "here's what's wrong with your mother" book. It provides a framework, using my own story, for adult daughters to create resilience, empowerment, and autonomy in their lives.

I wrote this book because I believe it fills a previously unfilled hole: books that make a real difference for daughters who struggle with, or are estranged from, their mothers.(less)

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Karen C.L. Anderson’s books

Average rating: 3.57 · 1,023 ratings · 123 reviews · 7 distinct works • Similar authors

	Difficult Mothers, Adult Daughters: A Guide For Separation, Liberation & Inspiration 3.55 avg rating — 790 ratings — 9 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
	The Peaceful Daughter's Guide to Separating from A Difficult Mother: Freeing Yourself From The Guilt, Anger, Resentment and Bitterness of Being Raised ... (The Peaceful Daughter's Guides Book 1) 3.92 avg rating — 87 ratings — published 2015 — 5 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
	You Are Not Your Mother: Releasing Generational Trauma and Shame by Karen C.L. Anderson (Goodreads Author), Eric Maisel (Goodreads Author) (Foreword) 3.36 avg rating — 100 ratings — 7 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
	After: The Before & After - A Real-Life Story of Weight Loss, Weight Gain and Weightlessness Through Total Acceptance really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 19 ratings — published 2011 — 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
	The Difficult Mother-Daughter Relationship Journal: A Guide For Revealing & Healing Toxic Generational Patterns 3.85 avg rating — 13 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
	Overcoming Creative Anxiety: Journal Prompts & Practices for Disarming Your Inner Critic & Allowing Creativity to Flow 2.82 avg rating — 11 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 Know about Jumping: Real life lessons on finding the courage to make major life changes by Marcie L. Boyer (Goodreads Author), Karen C.L. Anderson (Goodreads Author) (Foreword), Christine Rice (Editor) 4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2015 — 2 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

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Karen C.L. Anderson's Blog

unshaming through dreams

Earlier this week, I experienced a second evolution in my recurring “I’m not good enough” dream (and I am pretty sure you have had similar dreams…er…nightmares).

For me, these dreams always revolve around graduating from college.

For the longest time (like 30 years) they involved me being at graduation about to get my diploma, and I know the truth and “they” probably do too: I probably don’t have en

Karen is Currently Reading

Karen is currently reading

The Beginner's Goodbye

by Anne Tyler (Goodreads Author)

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Feb 10, 2013 12:29PM

Quotes by Karen C.L. Anderson (?)

“That you trust yourself to have and hold your boundaries, not from a defensive, reactive place, but from a solid, grounded place.”
― Karen C.L. Anderson, Difficult Mothers, Adult Daughters: A Guide For Separation, Liberation & Inspiration

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“Perhaps you were made to feel unworthy, as though nothing you did was ever good enough, though you tried—year after year—to please someone who was, on some level, devoted to never being pleased.”
― Karen C.L. Anderson, Difficult Mothers, Adult Daughters: A Guide For Separation, Liberation & Inspiration

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