Surviving With Serenity: Daily Meditations for Incest Survivors

by T. Thomas

A collection of brief meditations for those recovering from sexual abuse is designed to strengthen the spiritual side of their life

377 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1990

Reviews

[Sarah Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an extremely useful daily meditation reader, my copy surfacing from my thirties in very tattered shape, so I must have used it a lot, while playing hide and seek with my issues. Sometimes dissociation during the abuse will lead to memory issues for the survivor. Anyway, it is a very gentle practical reader, useful to anyone, I think, in any stage of recovery. Anonymous groups are hard to come by--al-anon was vigorous in my town when I was in my twenties--so unless you are lucky enough to happen upon a skillful individual therapist or group facilitator life can be hard. I was almost referred to a skilled group facilitator in '94, but the doctor making the referral had taken against her because she was blind. Clearly, he suffered from ableism. So, the moral of that is never refuse the possibility of a blind therapist. Seriously. She subsequently taught special needs at NCCU.
Excerpt from book: Tomorrow August 13 page 226
Tomorrow is that mythical day which never arrives--the day when we will set our lives in order, stop abusing ourselves and really begin to live.
When we were children we may have lived in hope that tomorrow would be more carefree and the abuse would stop. It never did. Perhaps deep down inside we still fear tomorrow will never come; life will never be better. But there is a remedy...
When we choose to live today and let tomorrow take care of itself, life becomes simpler. We might not always want to trust our Higher Power, but we could be willing to risk it for today. We might not always want to stop abusing ourselves or worrying about others, but we need not do either today. Sane living might be attainable for today with the help of our Higher Power.