CONFRONTING THE CHALLENGE OF LOVE

Twenty-six years ago, I hit “bottom” emotionally. My first marriage had hit the rocks, I was stranded a thousand miles away from my friends or family or business associates. I was emotionally shattered, living alone in a 1-bedroom apartment in Vancouver Washington, with “nothing but my dog, a bed, a television set, and a gun.”

Bad combination!

I knew I was in trouble emotionally. For the first time in my life I was losing purpose, drive, a sense of identity. I didn’t even know what I wanted from life! The real point is that my emotional life had been in trouble for YEARS…I’d just had an event that was shocking enough (my wife calling it “quits”) to wake me up. And waking up is HARD.

My problem was

1. I’d had no role models of a healthy relationship.
2. I didn’t understand myself enough to protect loved ones from my own issues.
3. I didn’t have a value system that would have shown me when and how I was hurting people I loved.
4. I wasn’t enough of an “adult” to be able to separate what I WANTED from what I NEEDED.

As a result, I ended up alone, and broken, and LOST.

We’ve all been there. Unless YOU:

1. Were raised in a healthy, loving family with grandparents who were still alive and loving
2. Have resolved all your emotional issues in healthy ways
3. BELIEVE that you can and should have love in…