Morgan Serenity And Resilience

Understanding Childhood Experiences and Building Emotional Strength
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-80765-504-4
Verlag: PublishDrive
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 111 Seiten

This book presents a reflective exploration of personal growth shaped by challenging childhood experiences and the long-term impact of living in a dysfunctional family environment. Through a narrative that blends autobiographical storytelling with practical reflections, it examines themes such as addiction, family dynamics, emotional resilience, and the search for personal responsibility. The early chapters recount formative life events, illustrating how early influences and difficult circumstances can shape beliefs, behaviors, and coping strategies over time. In its later sections, the book introduces a structured framework of personal development based on step-by-step principles focused on forgiveness, accountability, gratitude, and purposeful living. Drawing from lived experiences, spiritual reflection, and self-examination, it offers readers an approach that combines narrative insight with practical guidance for emotional awareness and long-term resilience. Intended for adult readers interested in self-understanding and recovery-oriented personal growth, the content follows a descriptive and reflective style that supports thoughtful consideration of life experiences and personal change.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Morgan, Rachel

Leseproben

Foreword

“The Buck Stops Here”

President Harry Truman

This book is not a book about assigning blame or avoiding responsibility for how my life turned out. I wrote it with the goal that you, the reader, might find hope in these pages and discover that there is a solution to any and all the pain, problems, and challenges you may be facing in life if you, too have come from an alcoholic, addiction-based, or dysfunctional family.

Perhaps, instead of alcohol and substance abuse issues, there was emotional, physical, spiritual, or sexual abuse in your background. Like our family, yours, too may have looked picture-perfect on the outside. We lived in a beautiful house; my mother, thank God, was sane and caring, but my father was an out-of-control, daily drinker who exhibited total disregard for our well-being once he picked up a drink. Sober, you couldn’t meet a nicer man.

Maybe you recreated your family of origin in your current relationship. Maybe you married an alcoholic or drug addict, or maybe you found someone who is not only unreliable but has also abandoned or abused you in much the same way your parent/s did. Maybe you developed a drinking or drug problem yourself, or maybe you became a compulsive overeater, gambler, sex addict, or love addict. Maybe you are a chronic worrier, afraid that your life will never work out.

You may be a massive overachiever, and while the world looks at you as an amazing success, you may feel like a complete fraud. You may be full of fear about being discovered as such by your employer, partner, or friends. You may feel alone and isolated even in a room full of friends.

The good news is you are no longer alone. No one should ever feel shame or guilt for admitting that life is often tough, and we all need help from time to time to get through it. I would feel I’ve succeeded if what I’ve written here can assist you along your journey of finding some of the answers to life’s trials and tribulations.

When I was in graduate school, my intention was to become an alcohol and drug counselor. Then I made my first film, Alcohol, Drugs, and the Young in British Columbia with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. That experience changed the direction of my life 180 degrees, and I became a filmmaker instead.

I have written extensively on the subject of chemical addiction and codependency as well as on a plethora of addictive behaviors for a television series titled, Meeting the Crisis, the 12-Step Approach. During that time and for that series, I read and studied the literature of Alcoholics Anonymous as well as Alanon (for families of Alcoholics) and especially Adult Children of Alcoholics and Codependents Anonymous.

All of those programs work off of the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. The late Aldous Huxley once called Bill Wilson, the cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous, “the greatest social architect” of the twentieth century.

Today, the American Medical Association recognizes addiction as a disease. Codependency is recognized by many therapists and frontline workers in the field of alcoholism and addiction to be the core issue underlying many of these conditions. (Codependency is defined broadly : as a psychological condition or a relationship in which a person is controlled or manipulated by another who is affected with a pathological condition (such as an addiction to alcohol or cocaine dependence on the needs of or control by another.)

Many believe codependency and most addictions are the direct results of trauma. I think all of these abnormal conditions are like type 2 diabetes—they can be arrested, but seldom, if ever, cured.

This book is not a substitute for any of those programs. They all offer incredible support and a very safe environment to find a solution for those who want a ready-made community of recovering people. This book is an addition to that literature, which has helped countless millions of individuals and families recover from both alcoholism and the family disease of alcoholism.

What sets this book apart is that I have written it from my point of view and experience. I have successfully confronted my demons that resulted from my growing up in a violent, alcoholic home. I have also successfully dealt with my alcohol and drug problems and have lived a life free of all mood-altering substances for three decades. What I discovered was that just stopping drinking was not necessarily the answer to my problems that I thought were creating the difficulties in my life.

Initially, I dealt with the effects of growing up in an alcoholic family by becoming a massive overachiever. I swore I would not become my father and expose my children to the kind of insanity I experienced because of my father’s abuse of alcohol.

For the record, I am a successful feature film and television writer, producer, and director. I have taught at three of Canada’s universities and was the recipient of the CESAR Teaching Award at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. I am a classic overachiever.

I was blessed with a great deal of success and more blessed with what I thought then was crushing failure. All of these experiences have contributed in significant ways to my life. Out of my greatest failures have come my biggest successes. Ironically, my biggest successes have been quite empty and meaningless. I know that sounds paradoxical, but it is true. I spent the first thirty-nine years of my life pursuing material and creative success and the next twenty-five seeking enlightenment. I’m hoping to spend the time I have left of my life giving—whenever and wherever I can. It is better to give than to receive.

When I was brought to my knees in 1986, I owed $5 million and was facing hundreds of lawsuits because of a feature film I was producing in the United States. (I will explain more about that situation later.) It was at this point that I said to a friend, “I think it’s always darkest before the bottom falls out.” (I have a twisted sense of humor that has served me well in life, and I will touch on it at various times throughout my writing.)

I have discovered that learning often involves pain. But I have come to realize that pain can be a very positive experience. If you are baffled by that statement, I don’t blame you. But think about it: Not only does pain tell us to seek medical help when we don’t feel well physically but it also urges us to seek emotional relief when we feel overwhelmed by life.

This book doesn’t fit into any particular genre. It is part self-help, part autobiographical, part observational, and part inspirational (I hope). It’s conversational in style; I’ve written it as I speak—as if I were sharing with you, one on one.

The first chapters of this book describe my life in a general way, and, I hope, give you a glimpse of the psychological and emotional landscape of my childhood. I have shared the details so there will be no question in your mind that I know what I am talking about. Some of my stories are a bit personal, and my mind rails against my exposing myself like this as it will open up my behavior in my early years when I succumbed to addiction to criticism. I pray you won’t judge me too harshly.

The latter half of the book is drawn from my experience working with a variety of spiritual practices. They include the eight steps of the Master Mind Principles, developed by the late Jack Boland, a Unity minister. I also draw on academic disciplines I acquired over the years.

I sincerely hope that you will find value in the eight steps of the Master Mind Principles. They were Jack’s way of stating that when two or more people are gathered together, then God is there, too. I want to say here that while I was raised Roman Catholic, I am not a practicing Roman Catholic. My beliefs are much less orthodox and much more inclusive of many other beliefs.

I know there is a God; it just isn’t me–and at this point in my life—I am following more inclusive belief system than I did as a child. All I know and believe today is that God does exist. I use the term God frequently throughout this book, but I want to emphasize this point: It is the God of your understanding, and no one is trying to convince you that you have to believe in anything within the pages of this book. These are suggestions only.

But what my research in comparative religions showed is that there is a common bond or root to most of the world’s modern religions, whether we are looking at Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. They have a lot more in common than they do differences.

I am a believer in the old saying; Religion is for those afraid of going to hell; spirituality is for those of us who’ve been there.

Again, and I cannot emphasize this point enough: To gain benefit from what I am about to share with you, you do not have to believe in any formal or traditional religion. You don’t have to be any specific denomination or faith to have this work for you. Nor am I trying to sell you on the concepts or theology contained in them. They were the simplest, most straightforward plan of action I could find to help me overcome particular personal, behavioral, emotional, and financial challenges that I faced and thought were insurmountable as a result of growing up in a dysfunctional, alcoholic home.

Today, I can see the cause and direct roots of almost all of my problems go back to my childhood and the decisions I made based on erroneous, self-defeating thinking and beliefs from those early years.

If you are looking for an empirical or dialectic discussion on whether God exists or not, then I would suggest Hans Kung’s Does God Exist? I only...