Freedom's Just Another Word is an inspiring book written about a very important part of the path to recovery for the author Dan L. Hays. [ http://www.danlhays.com/freedom.html ]
Freedom's Just Another Word, by Dan L. Hays, Virtualbookworm.com Publishing Inc., College Station, TX, 2008.
Dan Hays and I first connected on his blog Thoughts Along The Road to Healing, Overcoming the Effects of Growing up in an Alcoholic Family. There I read about Dan's Tiger Dream. [ http://danlhays.wordpress.com/2009/10/28/talk-of-tigersthe-tiger-unveiled/ ]
By the time that I read a second article that Dan wrote about his Tiger Dream and labeling the Tiger as his rage, [http://danlhays.wordpress.com/2010/03/19/healing-my-anger-defusing-a-time-bomb/ ] I was ready to order Dan's book and read it.
In Freedom's Just Another Word, Dan retraces some of his childhood memories of places he lived which in turn brought up forgotten or blocked memories of his childhood---things Dan wasn't even sure that he wanted to remember. Want to or not, Dan knew that he needed to remember these memories to release the blocks that were killing him and blocking his potential success in life and his career.
The memories that Dan recovered initially brought up a lot of pain and terror to Dan's mind and body. Those memories brought out rage over incidences in his childhood, anger at his dad and at God. Something that my own path has shown me is that we often label God with the same beliefs and feelings that we have from and toward our own Earthly, human father. Dan saw his human father Ben as being punishing, unforgiving, and uncaring. Dan saw God in the same harsh light. In remembering his childhood, Dan discovered an alcoholic father who beat young Danny when in an alcoholic blackout which means that Dan's father had no memories of the beatings afterwards.
Since I found Dan's blog Thoughts Along The Road to Healing and the story of Dan's Tiger Dream, I have felt a strong connection to Dan and his journey through recovery. Since reading his book Freedom's Just Another Word, the connection has grown even stronger. Like Dan, I often questioned my connection to God. We both thought God was punishing us for being bad children. We thought that God had turned His back on us because of the shame we carried. Like me, part of Dan's journey took him face to face with God and his anger at God. We both came out the other side knowing that God was taking care of us all along. God is always understanding and doesn't kill you if you get angry at Him. He welcomes your rage as much as He welcomes your prayers and praise.
Reading Dan's book has brought up more feelings, memories, and a dream for me to process. So much is going through my mind right now that it will take some time for me to sort it out and understand.
Here is part of a comment that I left on Dan's blog article "Healing My Anger - Defusing a Time Bomb: [You will find the link to this article already in my post.]
"You [Dan] are so very brave to do all of the hard work that you have done on your issues. Your book is going to cause me to go back and peel some more layers off of some of my own issues. I am in awe of the healing that you have done. I am going to have to start using my sponsor [Al-Anon] more to do some more intense work of my own that I have been afraid of doing by myself. You are truly blessed by the ACA [Adult Children of Alcoholics] friends that you have. I haven't had that for a very long time."
Dan, when I read the last page of your book, I did not want the story to end. Thank God that you are writing more books about your remarkable, truly amazing journey through recovery. Thank you for sharing all of your pain, fears, and triumph over the family disease of alcoholism.
Patricia
6 comments:
Patricia -
WOW! I am stunned and humbled by the power of your words! And when they are directed toward my book, it is an amazing experience.
Thank you so much for sharing your powerful and insightful observations about my book! I gives me impetus to keep spreading the word about my book!
Humbly,
Dan
Dan, you are very welcome. It is a review of a powerful book of courage and recovery. My next article will be about the dream that I had the morning after finishing reading your book.
What a wonderful book review! I read Dan's book about 4 or 5 months ago and it impacted me also. I love it when a book makes my eyebrows raise, or makes me angry, blush, or need to get up and pace.. these are all signs that I am relating big time and all these things happened to me when I read "Freedoms Just Another Word by Dan Hays"
How wonderful that you have highlighted Dan's book Patricia!
Love Darlene
Darlene, thank you. It is a wonderful book that Dan wrote. The review was easy to write. It is one of those articles where the words wrote themselves. I too felt so much in reading Dan's book. In my next article, I will write about the dream that I had after finishing Dan's book.
Patricia; thank you for stopping by my blog to introduce yourself! I can so relate to what you write about and the "layers"...and the God/Father issues are so very similar to my own path and findings. In the end - I have developed a belief similar to what you express here as being a part of an entire universe.
I'm glad you introduced yourself!
Susan
Susan, you are welcome. I have read so many books about child abuse and incest over the years. I am not sure about the one that you asked about. I have read one called Toxic Parents, Overcoming Their Hurtful Legacy And Reclaiming Your Life written by Dr. Susan Forward that really helped me a lot. Thanks for visiting my blog and for commenting.
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