Windmills of Our Minds: Faith or Fear?
Instinctively, we react to threats to our safety with a fight or flight response. It ramps up our adrenaline and sends us into a temporary high.
It can, at times, help us to literally move mountains to remove ourselves and those we love from peril.
For those of us who have experienced abuse, it can also ruin our health (see 4/29/09 post). We can end up with health concerns like complex PTSD (C-PTSD), auto-immune disorders, and cardio-vascular problems.
My Protection Circle
We all need “protection circles” ~ to be surrounded by people who are there for us ~ to celebrate the good times and to weather stormy seas. Yet, by definition, domestic violence is isolating. We can become alienated from those who were once dear to us because we are ashamed about what’s happening behind closed … Read more
John Wayne Bobbitt: Pit Bull
It is difficult to explain the difference between a “pit bull” abuser ~ the kind that won’t let go ~ and a “cobra” abuser ~ the kind who will strike to kill when he/she feels threatened.
John Wayne Bobbitt is a quintessential “pit bull” abuser. For those of you who need to understand the difference in order to craft a viable safety plan, I strongly urge you to visit The Insider web site and look at tonight’s clip several times.
Remembering Crystal: Life’s Lessons on Escaping the Abuse of a Powerful Man
Yes, everyone tells us to leave. But, nobody tells us how. That’s what this web site is about. We need to figure it out, and those of us who have lived to tell the tale must leverage our professional expertise to help the women and children walking in our shoes until the violence stops.
Carolyn Jessop: Safety in the Spotlight
Six years ago, Carolyn Jessop achieved a miracle. She escaped from an abusive polygamist marriage to FLDS leader Merril Jessop.
Rihanna: Should You Stay? Should You Leave?
Rihanna and Chris Brown Cobras and Pit Bulls “Why don’t you just leave?” It sounds so simple. Pack up your bags and go. My bags were packed. I was ready to go. He found out, and all hell broke loose. The problem with the simplistic advice is that it ignores the fact that a pit … Read more
The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas
Marilyn Stanton, my guardian angel at the Watseka, IL Public Library, recommended this book to me. It is one of my favorites. I hope y’all will read it and decide to make lots of quilts for Shalom Bayit’s clients. “Persian pickle” is an old-fashioned term for paisley scraps used in making quilts, and the Persian Pickle Club is the name of the quilting bee at the heart of the story.
Sense of Humor: Get Yourself Some Madea Going On!
You may have seen Tyler Perry’s movies. You probably don’t know that his comedy comes from his efforts to lift himself up from where you are right now. Madea was his alter-ego who helped him survive, thrive, find joy, and become outrageously wealthy.
Let’s Create Protection Circles
People experiencing domestic violence need to be encircled with protection.
