| We hear it all the time: "You're not responsible for | | | | deserve...more battering. |
| your abuser's battering behavior." Yet, victims of | | | | 3) From yourself: Your efforts to change your |
| domestic abuse spend an inordinate amount of time | | | | partner prevent you from changing yourself, because |
| trying to alter this behavior. Fix it. Change it. Account | | | | no one is then available to tend to your own |
| for it. | | | | business. When you are in someone else's business |
| Often, and usually unknowingly, this invites three | | | | being responsible for their behavior, how can you be |
| deadly mistakes victims of domestic abuse make in | | | | in our own business? You can't. |
| their abusive relationships. | | | | Byron Katie says this so clearly. When you're not in |
| 3 deadly mistakes of shouldering the responsibility for | | | | your own business, you're disconnected from |
| battering behavior | | | | yourself. It is as though no one is home minding your |
| 1) From others: You inadvertently tell bystanders that | | | | affairs. And your connection to your authentic self is |
| you own all or part of the battering. You asked for it. | | | | severed. This is the greatest death domestic abuse |
| You enjoy it...you deserve it. This is where the myth | | | | survivors endure. |
| that "she deserves it" comes from. | | | | If you are a victim of domestic abuse and you find |
| 2) From your partner: When you join the dance and | | | | yourself giving excuses for your batterer's behavior, |
| try to change your partner, you assume the | | | | halt and remember these three deadly mistakes. |
| responsibility to fix it. And if you're doing this, it must | | | | Recognize how your efforts to change your abusive |
| be your fault. This supports your abuser's belief that | | | | partner result in the continuation of your abusive |
| it is partly, or completely, your fault, which lends | | | | relationship and your loss of your authentic self. |
| permission to continue to give you what you | | | | |