what i'm learning

1. Our pasts shape who we are now, no matter how those who had less-than-traumatic childhoods try to convince us otherwise.

2. Parents, especially mothers, play a more vital role in the shaping of how a child reacts to his/her environment and the people in it, than i realized.

3. Sexual molesters usually have a preferred age range for their victims, and seldom vary from it.

4. The cycle of abuse CAN be broken, but it takes acknowledging that it is happening and being forceful to the point of being obnoxious if necessary in order to protect our children from experiencing what we did.

5. Looking from another's viewpoint is NOT always a good thing. There are times when one has no choice but to focus on onesself.

6. Isolating onesself is also not a bad thing. i have always considered it bad, probably because i don't believe that any one person is an island. But i am learning that there comes a time when one has no choice but to focus on onesself (at the risk of sounding redundant).

7. Emotional walls are there for a reason. Trust is a very valuable thing to give, because along with trust comes vulnerability. Vulnerability brings the risk of being hurt, and that is something i will not risk lightly, ever again. If that means i come across as aloof, so be it.

8. That few people care about what i learn. Most folks only care if they are treated as they wish to be treated, and if one doesn't treat them in the manner to which they are accustomed (or wish to become accustomed), then they feel that they have the right to judge and condemn, no matter what is going on in one's life.

9. The only person whose opinion matters about what i am learning, and how i respond to it, is my Master.

10. i am learning, or rather re-learning, that my Master is an incredibly loving, patient man, who wants only the best for His slave, and wants her to be happy, so that she can work harder to make HIM happy.

i am lucky, blessed, fortunate, ....... loved....owned. i am Yours, Padrone. Thank You.