Commitment to Recovery

By Pete Walker, M.A., MFT (Therapy for and recovery from childhood trauma, abuse and/or neglect)

“… with my blessings to all survivors who through no fault of their own got a bad deal from the parenting deck, and deserve limitless help and grace in recovering from the terrible losses they suffered.”

I believe the foundation of my recovery work is in all the time and energy I have put into reawakening my instincts of self-compassion and self-protection. I have a fierce commitment to being loyal to myself – to being like a kind mother and a protective father to myself no matter what.

As my own recovery deepens, I notice that whenever it needs a boost, I frequently find myself invoking my inner child visually as sitting on my lap, and I tell him much I love him. I often feel myself wishing I could go back into the past in a time machine and rescue him – and bring him back to live with me in the present. I tell him there’s always a place in my heart for him, and that whenever he is suffering or struggling with some difficult aspect of an emotional flashback, I love him even more and feel a huge desire to go back in time and protect him from the outrageous unfairness he experienced.

Many Blessings,

Pete