Today I will listen to my inner child. He does not shout to be heard or verbally bully others into submission.

I am open to giving and receiving love. On this Valentine’s Day, I celebrate my ability to love myself and others in a balanced relation-ship of give-and-take. I let go of the heartaches of addictive relationships. I am no longer prey to being a victim “shot with the arrow of love.” I no longer need to “fall in love.” I can be in love, with my feet

My past can be a lethal poison. A healing antidote is affirmation. I could wait until others provide the affirmations I need. Better yet, I could take responsibility for my own healing.

My personal power adds structure for my inner child. My personal power and my needs are inseparable. As I widen my participation in the world about me, I assert both my power and my needs. As a young child growing up in a dysfunctional family, I could not express either my power or my needs. I curbed my desires and limited my scope of

My perceptions of the world are grounded in reality and my actions are positive and powerful.

As a child, I envied children who could be who they were without frowns of disapproval from those around them. I envied their careless play, the silliness of their decisions and fullness of their emotions.

I am learning the art of being with others in comfortable silence instead of frenetic anxiety.

We learn to treat ourselves the way we were treated. Because I grew up with constant negation, I learned to treat myself abusively. There was no room for error in my home.

I accept my friends for who they are. Today I will allow my friends to be themselves. If they make mistakes, that’s okay, they’re human just like me. If they hurt my feelings, we can talk it out. Before I began to recover, I had a hard time keeping friends. The first time they did something I didn’t like I felt betrayed and cut them off. I