“The strongest people are not those who hide their tears, but instead those who accept their tears as part of living, and feel them to the fullest. It is not those who shy away from hurting, it is those who keep going, despite the pain, that are the toughest characters.” -Tommy Cotton
I use this quote in a module on Defenses in The EMDR Readiness Course.
It can be so hard to let ourselves feel what we feel, connect to how our body is holding those feelings, accept the complexity of those who raised us rather than insist they be all good or all bad, and see our history for what it was and not what we wished it would be.
Doing so allows us to become our own best nurturer and protector – so that we can be free to author our future rather than be trapped by our past.