I can be courageous because:
I have endured, and yet endure, a terror larger than the limits of my awareness.
There is no pain, no indignity, greater for me, for I have been filled.
Nothing can be taken from me that I value more than that which is already lost.
No one can take away my innocence and trust, for I have experienced betrayal.
None can require me to give too much, for I have been required to give myself, and that is all I have.

I can be fearless because:
I am invincible, for suffering has reached beyond my capacity of perception.
No one can kill me, for I have never lived.
Love cannot be taken from me, for in hiding from my experience it has always been denied.
No one can take away peace, joy, or contentment, for these are things I have never known.

There is hope because:
Even though I was not permitted to choose how much to suffer, I can now choose how long.
I shall no longer be denied acceptance and love, for I know that it is only I that have hidden them.
I can stand independently now, even if the ground gives way beneath me, for lo, I have stood on nothing but pride these many years.

I cannot fear my worst fantasy, for my darkest dreams are but hidden memories of what has been.
I no longer will feel compelled to always maintain control, for I know that it is my aggressor, not myself, that has been in control all these years.

None can exercise greater power than this over me, for now I know that every waking action, every hidden compulsion was controlled by the terror and fear of my enemy; the fear that I would come to know the unknowable, remember the unthinkable, discover the hidden pain that is my past.

I can no longer be held prisoner by a fear that I will play out the actions of my aggressor on those around me.
In whatsoever has come to pass, the hidden finger of my accuser shall be revealed.
My power cannot be denied for no one could be more helpless than I.

I am indestructible, for still I am.

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