{"quotes":[{"text":"I couldn’t trust my own emotions. Which emotional reactions were justified, if any? And which ones were tainted by the mental illness of BPD? I found myself fiercely guarding and limiting my emotional reactions, chastising myself for possible distortions and motivations. People who had known me years ago would barely recognize me now. I had become quiet and withdrawn in social settings, no longer the life of the party. After all, how could I know if my boisterous humor were spontaneous or just a borderline desire to be the center of attention? I could no longer trust any of my heart felt beliefs and opinions on politics, religion, or life. The debate queen had withered. I found myself looking at every single side of an issue unable to come to any conclusions for fear they might be tainted. My lifelong ability to be assertive had turned into a constant state of passivity.","author":"Rachel Reiland","tags":["borderline","borderline-personality-disorder","bpd","diagnosis","emotional-pain","mental-disorder","mental-illness","self-blame","self-doubt"],"id":11583,"author_id":"Rachel+Reiland"},{"text":"We Are Lovable Even if the most important person in your world rejects you, you are still real, and you are still okay. —Codependent No More Do you ever find yourself thinking: How could anyone possibly love me? For many of us, this is a deeply ingrained belief that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Thinking we are unlovable can sabotage our relationships with co-workers, friends, family members, and other loved ones. This belief can cause us to choose, or stay in, relationships that are less than we deserve because we don’t believe we deserve better. We may become desperate and cling as if a particular person was our last chance at love. We may become defensive and push people away. We may withdraw or constantly overreact. While growing up, many of us did not receive the unconditional love we deserved. Many of us were abandoned or neglected by important people in our life. We may have concluded that the reason we weren’t loved was because we were unlovable. Blaming ourselves is an understandable reaction, but an inappropriate one. If others couldn’t love us, or love us in ways that worked, that’s not our fault. In recovery, we’re learning to separate ourselves from the behavior of others. And we’re learning to take responsibility for our healing, regardless of the people around us. Just as we may have believed that we’re unlovable, we can become skilled at practicing the belief that we are lovable. This new belief will improve the quality of our relationships. It will improve our most important relationship: our relationship with our self. We will be able to let others love us and become open to the love and friendship we deserve. Today, help me be aware of and release any self-defeating beliefs I have about being unlovable. Help me begin, today, to tell myself that I am lovable. Help me practice this belief until it gets into my core and manifests itself in my relationships.","author":"Melody Beattie","tags":["abandonment","beliefs","codependency","conditional-love","core-beliefs","isolation","lovable","love","neglect","relationships","self-blame","self-esteem"],"id":46462,"author_id":"Melody+Beattie"},{"text":"You have to let it go. You can hold on to the hate and the love and even the bitterness, but you have to go of the blame. The blame is what's tearing you down, babe.' -Sky.","author":"Colleen Hoover","tags":["holder","self-blame","sky"],"id":81775,"author_id":"Colleen+Hoover"},{"text":"Blame is a Defense Against PowerlessnessBetrayal trauma changes you. You have endured a life-altering shock, and are likely living with PTSD symptoms— hypervigilance, flashbacks and bewilderment—with broken trust, with the inability to cope with many situations, and with the complete shut down of parts of your mind, including your ability to focus and regulate your emotions.Nevertheless, if you are unable to recognize the higher purpose in your pain, to forgive and forget and move on, you clearly have chosen to be addicted to your pain and must enjoy playing the victim.And the worst is, we are only too ready to agree with this assessment! Trauma victims commonly blame themselves. Blaming oneself for the shame of being a victim is recognized by trauma specialists as a defense against the extreme powerlessness we feel in the wake of a traumatic event. Self-blame continues the illusion of control shock destroys, but prevents us from the necessary working through of the traumatic feelings and memories to heal and recover.","author":"Sandra Lee Dennis","tags":["affect","affect-regulation","betrayal","betrayal-bond","betrayal-trauma","betrayal-trauma-theory","blame","control","emotional-health","emotions","higher-purpose","hypervigilance","illusion","memories","mental-health","mental-illness","out-of-control","posttraumatic-stress","posttraumatic-stress-disorder","powerlessness","ptsd","regulate-emotions","self-blame","shock","trauma","trauma-victims","traumatic","traumatic-experiences","traumatic-memories","traumatized","victim-blaming","victimhood","victimization","victims"],"id":105905,"author_id":"Sandra+Lee+Dennis"},{"text":"The undisciplined mind confuses misfortune with mistakes.","author":"Mark Caney","tags":["self-blame","suffering"],"id":108134,"author_id":"Mark+Caney"},{"text":"Resiliency is the body's internal response to a stressful situation.","author":"Asa Don Brown","tags":["canada","capella-university","laughter","responsibility","self-blame","shame","trauma","usa"],"id":167078,"author_id":"Asa+Don+Brown"},{"text":"Refuse to blame yourself for not being 'good enough.","author":"John Mark Green","tags":["being-blamed","blame","blame-game","blame-the-victim","blamed","blaming-yourself","critical-people","self-blame","self-critical"],"id":180403,"author_id":"John+Mark+Green"},{"text":"Was it me? Was I too cold? Too inexperienced? Not pretty enough? Not good enough in bed? And when disloyal, seed-sowing scum buckets slept with other girls, why did women look inward to find fault in themselves?","author":"Tarryn Fisher","tags":["broken-heart","self-blame"],"id":263833,"author_id":"Tarryn+Fisher"},{"text":"I create my own heartbreaks!","author":"Shehrin Odri","tags":["heartbreak","self-blame"],"id":405567,"author_id":"Shehrin+Odri"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":9,"pages":1}}