Paulo Coelho Quotes

I want to be braver and more honest about my life. When you're sexually abused, there's a lot of damage.

To heal our wounds, we need courage to face them.

I'm a big believer in the idea that while we are the sum of our tears, we are also the product of our choices in how we deal with those tears.

Some people are afraid of what they might find if they try to analyze themselves too much, but you have to crawl into your wounds to discover where your fears are. Once the bleeding starts, the cleansing can begin.

You can't heal what you don't acknowledge.

For people like me, who have blocked out a chunk of their past, you wonder - if you open that door, if you walk into that room of your memories, what will happen? Will it destroy you or will it make you stronger?

Don't let your wounds make you become someone you're not.

Only after I faced the unhappiness of my first marriage did I start on the path of personal growth.

I used to think that if someone asked for help, they were weak. But the toughest thing I ever did was reach out and ask for help. And that was when I started to heal.

Shame hates it when we reach out and tell our story. It hates having words wrapped around it - it can't survive being shared. Shame loves secrecy... When we bury our story, the shame metastasizes.

I only wish that I had had the courage and the knowledge to have gotten that out of my system, out of my mind or my heart years earlier. But there is no book, there is no manual to tell you how to deal with sexual abuse.

As a therapist, I know that when you're vulnerable, the best way to move on is to admit your vulnerability, don't beat yourself up for it, and try to find a way to analyze your vulnerability. Pull up your socks and try to do better for you and your family.

You're not weak at all. Wounded, but that's nothing to be ashamed of.

Be brave enough to break your own heart.

Most of us know exactly what it is that creates the pain, confusion, stagnation and disruption in our lives. When we find something or someone creating in our lives that which we do not want, we must muster the courage and strength to stop it.

I've never found therapy to be a sign of weakness; I've found the opposite to be true. The willingness to have a mirror held up to you definitely requires strength.

If we openly declare what is wrong with us, what is our deepest need, then perhaps the death and despair will by degrees disappear.

It's occurred to me I need to laugh at myself more, and that I don't need to be some sad folk singer all the time. I don't want to be the queen of pain.

It is the false shame of fools to try to conceal wounds that have not healed.

The secret to happiness is freedom... And the secret to freedom is courage.

Everybody is a hero in their own story if you just look.

The strength of any weakness within us is the degree to which it is feared.

When you come from so many damaged places you don't ever want to spiral back there, so you gotta continue to check yourself.

Fear is a question. What are you afraid of and why? Our fears are a treasure house of self-knowledge if we explore them.

I always felt like if I lived in true authentic self-expression and lived in service and in support of many other people, I would be exempt from having to deal with yet another crisis in my life. I was wrong.