Trauma Recovery

Support Workbook
Learn to begin conquering the past, connecting to the present and creating the future.
By Michele Rosenthal, Post-Trauma Coach

2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 1

Michele Rosenthal, Post-Trauma Coach

www.yourlifetrauma.com

Michele@yourlifeaftertrauma.com

Trauma Recovery Support Workbook

Dear Survivor:
Part of trauma recovery is a journey of self-discovery. You are not trauma. There is an enormous YOU that has
nothing to do with trauma whatsoever. In order to discover that person, you need to be simultaneously learning
to look ahead, dream and desire the future, even while you are resolving things in the present brought on by
things in the past.
This workbook complements any work you will be or are already doing. It is meant to help you not only
connect to yourself in a deep and meaningful way, but also to help you develop a physical touchstone for your
recovery; a document that will help you realign yourself when you feel off-center, reorient yourself when things
get out of focus, and get yourself back on track toward what is most important to you.
In addition, the goal of the work you do in these pages will be to help you identify where you get tripped up in
the recovery process. The more you develop clarity the more easily you can strategize how to make change.
Everything in this workbook is part of the work I do with my private clients. They are exercises Ive seen work
and continue to see the benefits of with clients every week. As in everything with trauma recovery, work on this
at your own pace.
This workbook is divided into three parts:
Part One: What do you want? Empowerment comes from awareness and clarity. Being conscious of what you
want helps you become focused on figuring out where youre headed and how youre going to get there.
Part Two: Whats in your way? Fears are natural in the recovery process. However, they can stall or even
completely block your healing efforts. Becoming aware of what frightens you immediately begins to lessen its
hold on you, and allows you to strategize what to do in order to reduce and eliminate these issues.
Part Three: Whats your attitude? Recovery requires you to engage to the utmost degree. If youre dragging
around berating yourself, or refusing to participate in your recovery, then healing will be that much more
difficult. Identifying where you need an attitude adjustment can help sharpen your trauma recovery focus.
You have enormous healing potential; the goal is learning to access it. If you work through the following
exercises all the way to the end! you will be well on your way to unleashing a part of yourself that is
stronger, clearer, more empowered, focused and committed to achieving your trauma recovery goals.
Go for it! You can do this. I believe in you!

Michele

2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 2

Table of Contents

Part One: What Do You Want?

What Do You Want Out Of Trauma Recovery? .4
What Qualities Do You Want In Yourself ? .6
What Do You Want Your Life To Be Like? .7
Why Do You Want Your Life To Be Like That?. 8
What is Your Healing Intention?..9
Part Two: Whats In Your Way?
Whats holding you back? ..11
What are your fears? ..13
Part Three: Whats Your Attitude?
Why Is All Of This Important Now? .19
What Do You Believe? .20
How Will Your Life Change? ..21
What Innate Gifts Do You Possess? .23
Are You Self-Empowered? ..25

2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 3

Part One:
What do you want?

2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 4

What do you want out of trauma recovery?

There is life after trauma. In recovery its time to begin thinking about what you are moving toward. Your
commitment, excitement, diligence, strength and courage are all vastly increased when you have a very clear
idea of what you are going through all of this for! Lets get a good look at the goals.
List 3-5 things you want to do after you complete your trauma recovery process:
1 - _______________________________________________________________________________
2 - _______________________________________________________________________________
3 - _______________________________________________________________________________
4 - _______________________________________________________________________________
5 - _______________________________________________________________________________
For each item on the list, explain why you want it:
1 - _______________________________________________________________________________
2 - _______________________________________________________________________________
3 - _______________________________________________________________________________
4 - _______________________________________________________________________________
5 - _______________________________________________________________________________
For each item on the list, describe how your life would be different if you did it:
1 - _______________________________________________________________________________
2 - _______________________________________________________________________________
3 - _______________________________________________________________________________
4 - _______________________________________________________________________________
5 - _______________________________________________________________________________
For each item on the list explain what would have to change for you to do that thing:
1 - _______________________________________________________________________________
2 - _______________________________________________________________________________
2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 5

3 - _______________________________________________________________________________
4 - _______________________________________________________________________________
5 - _______________________________________________________________________________
For each item on the list, describe the first thing you would have to do to move toward that achievement:
1 - _______________________________________________________________________________
2 - _______________________________________________________________________________
3 - _______________________________________________________________________________
4 - _______________________________________________________________________________
5 - _______________________________________________________________________________
For each item on the list describe what resources you would need, including people, to help you achieve
the goal:
1 - _______________________________________________________________________________
2 - _______________________________________________________________________________
3 - _______________________________________________________________________________
4 - _______________________________________________________________________________
5 - _______________________________________________________________________________

2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 6

What qualities do you want in yourself?

Since trauma is not the sum-total of who you are, its time to get (back) in touch with the rest of you. After your
recovery is finished you will not only have reclaimed your life, but yourself, too. Who will you be..?
List 3-5 qualities you want to have when you have completed your trauma recovery process:
1 - _______________________________________________________________________________
2 - _______________________________________________________________________________
3 - _______________________________________________________________________________
4 - _______________________________________________________________________________
5 - _______________________________________________________________________________
For each item on the list, explain why you want it:
1 - _______________________________________________________________________________
2 - _______________________________________________________________________________
3 - _______________________________________________________________________________
4 - _______________________________________________________________________________
5 - _______________________________________________________________________________
For each item on the list explain what would have to change for you to acquire that thing:
1 - _______________________________________________________________________________
2 - _______________________________________________________________________________
3 - _______________________________________________________________________________
4 - _______________________________________________________________________________
5 - _______________________________________________________________________________
If you had those qualities today, how would they help you in your recovery process?
1 - _______________________________________________________________________________
2 - _______________________________________________________________________________
3 - _______________________________________________________________________________
4 - _______________________________________________________________________________
5 - _______________________________________________________________________________
2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 7

What do you want your life to be like?

In trauma you get so mired in the moment its easy to forget that theres another moment coming, and another
after that! Knowing what youre moving toward helps fuel your recovery. In all of your answers BE SPECIFIC
USE ADJECTIVES, DETAILS AND AS MANY FULL SENTENCES AND IDEAS AS POSSIBLE.
Describe the type of person you would ultimately like to be. ______________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Describe the type of friends you would like to have. _____________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Describe the type of relationship you would like to have. _________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Describe the career you would like to have. ____________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Describe the family you would like to have. ____________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________

2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 8

Why do you want your life to be like that?

Its not enough to know what you want. You need to know why you want it, too. Otherwise, youve just written
out a bunch of ideas that are not deeply connected to you.
Explain why it is important to be the type of person you described.________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Explain why those kinds of friends are of value to you. __________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Explain why you want that particular type of relationship. _______________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Explain why you want that career. ___________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Explain why that kind of family is important to you. ____________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________

2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 9

What is your healing intention?

Now its time to distill all of these thoughts and ideas into a simply manageable statement. By doing this you
will have a sort of road map, something you can refer to when times get tough; something that will remind you
of the goals and why you want them so that you have concrete reasons to carry on.
What do you want? Write a description of what you want to achieve in your trauma recovery.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Why do you want that? Explain why these goals are so important. ________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Put the above statements together in one place. (For example, I want ____, ____ and ___ because ______.)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 10

Part Two:
Whats in your way?

2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 11

What is holding you back?

Its easy to feel stalled and/or unable to move forward in recovery as you would like. Think about where you
are today: what inner or outer conflicts exist? Whats stopping you from making progress?
Make a list of 3-5 (or more!) things that are getting in the way of you making the progress you desire:
1 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
2 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
3 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
4 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
5 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
6 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
7 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
8 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
9 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
10 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
For each item on the list, what would need to happen for it to be removed?
1 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
2 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
3 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
4 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
5 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
6 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
7 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
8 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
9 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
10 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 12

For each item on the list, what would be the first step to making that removal happen?
1 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
2 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
3 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
4 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
5 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
6 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
7 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
8 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
9 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
10 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
For each item on the list, who or what could help you achieve that?
1 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
2 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
3 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
4 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
5 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
6 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
7 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
8 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
9 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
10 - _____________________________________________________________________________________

2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 13

What are your fears?

Its only natural that youd feel fear surrounding trauma recovery. You may be delving into difficult memories,
or moving ahead toward something that feels unfamiliar. Everyone in TRAUMA recovery experiences some
fearfulness. The beginning of eliminating those fears is becoming clear on what they are.
List 3-5 fears about your past:
1 - _______________________________________________________________________________
2 - _______________________________________________________________________________
3 - _______________________________________________________________________________
4 - _______________________________________________________________________________
5 - _______________________________________________________________________________
List 3-5 fears about your present:
6 - _______________________________________________________________________________
7 - _______________________________________________________________________________
8 - _______________________________________________________________________________
9 - _______________________________________________________________________________
10 - _______________________________________________________________________________
List 3-5 fears about your future:
11 - _______________________________________________________________________________
12 - _______________________________________________________________________________
13 - _______________________________________________________________________________
14 - _______________________________________________________________________________
15 - _______________________________________________________________________________

2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 14

List 3-5 general fears about trauma recovery:

16 - _______________________________________________________________________________
17 - _______________________________________________________________________________
18 - _______________________________________________________________________________
19 - _______________________________________________________________________________
20 - _______________________________________________________________________________
List 3-5 specific fears about the trauma recovery process:
21 - _______________________________________________________________________________
22 - _______________________________________________________________________________
23 - _______________________________________________________________________________
24 - _______________________________________________________________________________
25 - _______________________________________________________________________________
List 3-5 fears about who you are today:
26 - _______________________________________________________________________________
27 - _______________________________________________________________________________
28 - _______________________________________________________________________________
29 - _______________________________________________________________________________
30 - _______________________________________________________________________________
List 3-5 fears about who you will become when you are well:
31 - _______________________________________________________________________________
32 - _______________________________________________________________________________
33 - _______________________________________________________________________________
34 - _______________________________________________________________________________
35 - _______________________________________________________________________________

2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 15

List 3-5 fears you have about how other people will be affected by your recovery:
36 - _______________________________________________________________________________
37 - _______________________________________________________________________________
38 - _______________________________________________________________________________
39 - _______________________________________________________________________________
40 - _______________________________________________________________________________
List 3-5 bad things that will happen if you get well:
41 - _______________________________________________________________________________
42 - _______________________________________________________________________________
43 - _______________________________________________________________________________
44 - _______________________________________________________________________________
45 - _______________________________________________________________________________

Look back at all the fears you listed. For each one, write a simple sentence about how it does interfere,
can interfere, or will interfere with your recovery goals.
1 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
2 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
3 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
4 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
5 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
6 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
7 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
8 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
9 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
10 - ____________________________________________________________________________________
11 - ____________________________________________________________________________________
2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 16

12 - ____________________________________________________________________________________
13 - ____________________________________________________________________________________
14 - ____________________________________________________________________________________
15 - ____________________________________________________________________________________
16 - ____________________________________________________________________________________
17 - ____________________________________________________________________________________
18 - ____________________________________________________________________________________
19 - ____________________________________________________________________________________
20 - ____________________________________________________________________________________
21 - ____________________________________________________________________________________
22 - ____________________________________________________________________________________
23 - ____________________________________________________________________________________
24 - ____________________________________________________________________________________
25 - ____________________________________________________________________________________
26 -____________________________________________________________________________________
27 -____________________________________________________________________________________
28 -____________________________________________________________________________________
29 -____________________________________________________________________________________
30 -____________________________________________________________________________________
31 -____________________________________________________________________________________
32 -____________________________________________________________________________________
33 -____________________________________________________________________________________
34 -____________________________________________________________________________________
35 -____________________________________________________________________________________
36 -____________________________________________________________________________________
37 -____________________________________________________________________________________
2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 17

38 -____________________________________________________________________________________
39 -____________________________________________________________________________________
40 -____________________________________________________________________________________
41 - _______________________________________________________________________________
42 - _______________________________________________________________________________
43 - _______________________________________________________________________________
44 - _______________________________________________________________________________
45 - _______________________________________________________________________________

2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 18

Part Three:
Whats your attitude?

2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 19

Why is all of this important now?

Youve had trauma for however long youve had trauma. And yet, now youve taken a new, proactive step in
making the shift toward post- trauma freedom. Lets explore that for a moment:
Why did you decide to use this workbook?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Why does this workbook feel like the right thing for you right now?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
How is this moment in your recovery different than the ones that have come before?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
How are you different now, in the moment of taking this new action, than you have been in the past?
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 20

What do you believe?

Trauma recovery is difficult enough without your own thought systems getting in the way. Its time to get clear
on what you are thinking and what you should be thinking! For example, how strongly do you agree with the
following statements?
Rate your belief on a scale of 1 10:
1 I believe trauma can be overcome.
2 I believe I have what it takes to overcome trauma.
3 I believe I deserve to live free of trauma.
If you rate anything less than a 10 on any of those questions, heres the next thing to ask yourself:
What would it take to move that belief up ONE notch?
When you identify what that thing is, go get it!
The three statements above are examples of what you should be thinking. Now, what else is rattling around in
your mind?
When it comes to trauma recovery I believe:
1 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
2 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
3 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
4 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
5 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
How negative are these statements? For each one, reword it to something positive. (For example, I dont
think trauma can be overcome leads to I will have to work very hard to overcome trauma.):
1 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
2 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
3 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
4 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
5 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 21

How will your life change?

When trauma recedes into your past, your life and world will drastically alter. Being clear on change helps you
move toward it. Imagine this: Tomorrow morning you wake up to find you are trauma -free.
List 3 -5 things that will be different about you:
1 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
2 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
3 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
4 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
5 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
List 3 5 things that will be different about how you relate to others:
1 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
2 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
3 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
4 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
5 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
List 3 5 things that will be different about how others relate to you:
1 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
2 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
3 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
4 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
5 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
List 3 - 5 ways your changes will affect your friends, family, lovers, and colleagues:
1 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
2 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
3 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
4 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
5 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 22

How do all of these future changes feel to you? If any make you feel uncomfortable, do some free writing to
further explore why. This is a great way, actually, to find clarity for any topic.
Free writing works like this:
Set a timer for 10 minutes. Give yourself a prompt like, The idea of _____ makes me feel nervous because
and then spend 10 minutes (or more if you really get going!) letting the ideas flow onto paper. The best way to
do this exercise is freehand with a pencil or pen on paper no typing. (Okay, you can type if you really need
to!)
The goal is to keep your hand moving; if you get stuck just keep rewriting the prompt over and over again until
a new thought occurs to you and then follow it. You may, for example, get stuck, write the prompt, and then
have a grocery list pop into mind write the grocery list! Your mind filters up and gives you things in illogical
ways. Respect the process. Honor it and allow it to go where and how it wants to.
Some rules:
Do not edit, censor or filter what comes to mind; right it all down!
Do not correct spelling, grammar or syntax; thats not important here!
Do not judge your thoughts; allow them to flow with abandon.
Do write everything you think of, regardless of whether it makes sense.
Do give up control to the flow of words.
Do let your mind wander wherever it wants to go, even if the train of thought doesnt seem logical.
You now know all you need to know about free writing. Ready? Set? . Go!
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 23

What innate gifts do you possess?

You havent gotten as far as you have (which is far, you know: you survived!) without being in the possession
of some pretty wonderful talents. You cope, you manage, you get through the day to day. You survived
something terribly traumatic and yet, here you are, taking proactive steps to get better. All of this indicates that
you have gifts what are they?
List 5 qualities you possess today that have gotten you where you are:
1 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
2 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
3 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
4 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
5 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
List 5 qualities that you admire about yourself (even if this is a tough exercise, force yourself to do it):
1- _____________________________________________________________________________________
2 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
3 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
4 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
5 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
How are all of these gifts useful in trauma recovery?
1- _____________________________________________________________________________________
2 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
3 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
4 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
5 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
6 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
7 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
8 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 24

9 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
10 - _____________________________________________________________________________________

Take a look at the list above: How can you apply these useful gifts to your recovery? Name a specific
situation in which you plan to incorporate each gift.
1- _____________________________________________________________________________________
2 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
3 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
4 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
5 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
6 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
7 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
8 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
9 - _____________________________________________________________________________________
10 - ____________________________________________________________________________________

2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 25

Are you self-empowered?

One of the things you should want for yourself both during recovery and after you are free of trauma is a
strong, powerful self that guides your life, actions and achievements. Its never too early (or too late!) to begin
building, expanding and enforcing a self-empowered perspective and way of life.
So the question becomes: How self-empowered are you? A short pop quiz will help you gauge your current
attitude and start you thinking about how to make change. Answer the following questions as true or false.
1 I approach every recovery action with the conscious determination that I will do my very best to
communicate, listen and dig inside myself for answers.
2 When I get afraid of something in recovery I take a deep breath, center myself and plunge into the unknown.
3 I know my job in my recovery is to process whats frightening me so that I can move forward.
4 I know I need to deal with things in my past and even though that makes me feel anxious I focus myself and
do what needs to be done.
5 Even on bad days I know that I have deep healing potential and I remain committed to accessing and using
it to find my freedom.
6 When I stop making progress I sit very still and figure out what is stalling me.
7 When I figure out what is stalling my progress I take steps to remove the obstacle.
8 When I feel uncomfortable with a practitioner I listen to my instincts and find someone else with whom to
work.
9 I am very clear about my healing goals.
10 I research, strategize and plan how to strengthen, support and empower myself throughout the recovery
process.
OK, now add up how many Ts you have and rate yourself on this scale:
1-3 Ts: You need way more self-empowered healing attitude! Based on the Fs you marked down focus on each
one and figure out what you would have to do in order to turn them into a T. Slowly attack the list.
4-7 Ts: Youre on the right track! Take a look at the Fs you marked down. What do they have in common?
Figure out their similarity and decide what you can do to eliminate that from your approach.
8-10 Ts: Rock on! Youre already hip to the self-empowered healing attitude. Each week give yourself a
challenge to refine that approach. Track your progress. Notice how bringing your attention to this area causes
your recovery work to deepen.

2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 26

One day, after youve done a lot of hard work and despaired that youll never be the person you want to be. One
day, after youve moved forward and then felt like youve fallen back. One day you will surprise yourself
experience the most unexpected progress.
I hope on that day and in that moment you think of me and the work youve done here and realize that all along,
a part of you actually did know what it was doing. It just needed your time, attention, patience, commitment,
persistence, permission and determination for it to get the whole job done.
You have enormous healing potential always remember that. The goal is learning to access it. You can do this.
Dig deep. I believe in you!
Onward toward freedom,

2011 Michele Rosenthal, LLC All rights reserved.

www.YouLifeAfterTrauma.com

p. 27