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YOUR MIND AS
YOUR DOCTOR
An Interview with Internationally-Known Healer Sharon Forrest
Printed from Uptown Express Dated April 1991
Sharon Forrest's childhood was one of economic
privilege and tragic abuse. As painful as the physical and
sexual abuse was, Forrest reports that it was actually the
emotional and mental abuse that was the most devastating on a
long-term basis. The wounded child blocked out much of the early
experience that was too painful to remember.
She describes her father as warm and loving, a
sharp contrast to her mother whom she describes as Victorian
English and ‘what
hell was all about.’ From infancy into adulthood, Forrest's
mother seemed to have some uncontrollable, inexplicable rage
against her oldest daughter.
At the age of nine, following a severe beating
from her mother, Forrest was removed to the home of an aunt. The
incident
coincided with the later discovery of her sexual abuse by the
family chauffeur and a neighbor, memories that were buried so
deep that she recalled them only in the dreams that haunted her
adulthood.
After a series of persistent, terrifying dreams,
Forrest contacted her oldest sister who was incredulous that she
had not remembered being sexually abused by these two men.
Shortly after working through these shocking revelations,
Forrest saw the neighbor at a wedding. She relates that she was
able to be in the same room with him and look at him without
animosity or thoughts of revenge. "I kept my distance other than
taking a few minutes to gently but firmly inform him that he had
to get psychological help immediately otherwise I would have to
take action. I told him I knew that he had also abused his
daughters. I didn't feel anything negative towards him at all
just this is a poor soul that desperately needs help..." So
often abuse is multi-generational and the cycle has to be
broken. NOW!
The next week she was doing a workshop in
Rochester, New York, and was astounded to learn that of the 25
participants, 22 were victims of childhood sexual abuse.
Forrest's experience of forgiving and reaching out to understand
her abusers has enabled her to help other victims. "Very often
it's warped love on the part of the abuser, or the only way they
know how to express affection", reports Forrest.
Forrest has spent years working on herself to
get over the hurt, the anger, to change her non-beneficial and
self-sabotaging thought patterns. "I used to spend a good half
of my life in the hospital. I had systemic lupus and
debilitating chronic bronchial asthma, |