Amal Katrib

“By acquiescing in an act that can cause such suffering to a living creature, who among us is not diminished as a human being.”
― Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

“Travel back to oneself… I had always imagined that the word referred to forward linear travel… now I wonder if the trajectory might not be circular; you spiral around and, somewhere behind where you were, you come upon your former self, a self that is somehow changed. You’re a child again, yet not exactly: a creature who possesses something you once possessed—innocence, perhaps, or courage or joy—but who is equipped this time around to hold on to whatever it was you lost.”
― Robert Leonard Reid, Arctic Circle: Birth and Rebirth in the Land of the Caribou

“Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different, but we cannot move forward if we're still holding onto the pain of that past and wishing it was something else. All of us who have been broken and scarred by trauma have the chance to turn those experiences into what Dr Perry and I have been talking about: Post Traumatic Wisdom.

Forgive yourself. Forgive them. Step out of your history and into the path of your future. My friend, the poet Mark Nepo says that the pain was necessary in order to know the truth. But we don't have to keep the pain alive in order to keep the truth alive. I made peace with my mother when I stopped comparing her to the mother I wished I had, when I stopped clinging to what should or could have been and turned to what was and what could be.

Because what I know for sure, is that everything that has happened to you, was also happening for you, and all that time, in all of those moments, you were building strength. Strength times strength times strength equals power. What happened to you can be your power.”
― Oprah Winfrey, What Happened To You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing

“What I’ve learned from talking to so many victims of traumatic events, abuse, or neglect is that after absorbing these painful experiences, the child begins to ache. A deep longing to feel needed, validated, and valued begins to take hold. As these children grow, they lack the ability to set a standard for what they deserve. And if that lack is not addressed, what often follows is a complicated, frustrating pattern of self-sabotage, violence, promiscuity, or addiction.”
― Bruce D. Perry, What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing