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In her personal memoir, Holly Elissa Bruno shares her childhood experience of trauma and abuse with you to offer a beacon of hope and a tangible example of how you can make a positive difference in the world and most of all, in the lives of children.
“Happiness Is Running Through the Streets to Find You is a remarkable book, written by a remarkable woman. When I think of how easily Holly Elissa laughs and loves, given everything she’s endured, I am in awe. To say that her story is a testament to the human spirit is to use a cliché, but there’s simply no other way to put it. Because of Holly Elissa’s courage in writing this book, readers will have a much greater understanding of and empathy for children who have experienced trauma.”
- Rae Pica, Author, What If Everybody Understood Child Development?
“Holly Elissa Bruno has done it again! In her latest work, Holly has carefully and sensitively balanced the emotional minefield of trauma with the healing words of stories that flow with deep understanding, direction, and comfort. While personal trauma may seem unsurmountable, Holly guides with care, juxtapositions, and the ahas! of self-reflection and discovery. Each bite-size story or anecdote takes the reader on a personal journey in the healing process. This excellent format lets the reader follow a direct approach or simply pick any story or ‘chapter’ at random. And each will certainly lead to unexpected personal reflections, with the option to return later for extra good counsel. The topics will challenge, fire old hurts, produce tears, and ultimately provide peaceful joy. Thanks to Holly for the courage to bring this work forward!”
- Luis A. Hernandez, ECE Specialist, TTAS/Western Kentucky University
Enjoy this message to you from Holly Elissa!
If you prefer to place your order over the phone, please call (800) 221-2864
ISBN: 978-0-942702-46-0
Table of Contents
PREFACE: I MARVEL
INTRODUCTION: NO ONE STEALS MY SOUL ANYMORE
PART 1: LEARNING THE DRILL
- Reparations
- Do Crows Fly in a Straight Line?
- Finding Our Way Home
- Unexpected Passageways
- Divine Despair
- Stay Back, Evil Demons
- Entering the Madness
- The Cat, the Hatchet, the Curse
- Denial as a Way of Life
- Houdini Baby
- Individual Reflection Questions
- Book Group Discussion Questions
PART 2: IN YOUTH, IT WAS A WAY I HAD
- Safe Outside
- First Chosen Family
- My Old Oak Tree
- Blackberry Gatherer
- I Was Okay Enough, Until
- Individual Reflection Questions
- Book Group Discussion Questions
PART 3: DESPERATELY SEEKING THE DIVINE
- Holy Grail Called Hope
- Digging for Jacob’s Ladder
- Holy Rolling into Heaven
- Sign Me Up for a New Life
- A Talent for Setting Things Free
- Rite of Spring: My Mother’s Annual Cartwheel
- Unsung Mother Mine
- Curiouser
- The Day My Soul Flew to Its Safe Home
- The Body Finds Its Own Way to Goodness
- Individual Reflection Questions
- Book Group Discussion Questions
PART 4: BETRAYAL
- Our Names Matter
- Greg Bruno and Nona Addolorata
- Learning to Lie: We Are German
- Evidence to the Contrary Is Inadmissible
- Bella Sicilia Homeland
- Positions Available: Italians Need Not Apply
- Blessed Is the Door
- Your Family Always Lied
- Individual Reflection Questions
- Book Group Discussion Questions
PART 5: EVERY GIRL FOR HERSELF
- Gender Bound, Rule Bound, Hide Bound
- Gotcha God
- Tell Your Parents, Missy
- Thou Shalt Not Get Sick
- Catch That One, She’s Running!
- Survival of the Toughest
- Trauma Made Bearable by Dissociating
- Little Red Journal Entries
- I Have Three Lovely Daughters
- Command Performances
- Ultimate Authority
- My Father Was Many Things
- Perfection in Triplicate
- Chore Day, Sore Day
- Rosenbaum’s, of Course
- Who was My Mother?
- Individual Reflection Questions
- Book Group Discussion Questions
PART 6: UP TO THE BALCONY
- Compassionate Perspective
- Placing My Personal History in Context
- Shame on Me
- My History Could Kill Me
- Another Assessment Hits Home
- Individual Reflection Questions
- Book Group Discussion Questions
PART 7: ADULT IN BODY, CHILD WITHIN
- It Went in Little Ways
- In the Fall of the Year
- To Excel, I Failed
- No Congratulations, No Apology
- Self-unfulfilling Prophecy
- My Secret Life
- You Handle This One, Holly
- Post-traumatic Stress
- The Wages of Sin
- You Decide, Daughter
- What to Do with Broken Things
- Living on Purpose
- Individual Reflection Questions
- Book Group Discussion Questions
PART 8: OUR PAINFUL PAST BECOMES OUR GREATEST ASSET
- These Things I Know to Be True
- Loss Upon Loss
- Stepping Out into the Light
- My Day Back in Court
- Asking for and Accepting Help
- Taking It to the Laundromat
- Chosen Families, New Ground Rules
- Setting a Precedent for Healing
- Individual Reflection Questions
- Book Group Discussion Questions
9: TRAUMA SURVIVOR SEEKS DEEPER SOURCE
- You Are With Me Always
- This Businessman God in a Pale Khaki Suit
- Do Work that Enhances the Soul
- We Can’t Be Happy and You Can’t Be Happy Either
- Planting My Feet
- Upon Meeting Her Grandson
- Memories Fly Home to Me, Portending Deeper Meaning
- The Grandfather I Was Not Allowed to Know
- We Don’t Talk About That
- I Am My Father’s Keeper
- Depression Era Fatherless Family
- Women and Madness
- Back in Rochester
- Make It into Art
- On the Psych Ward
- Men and Incest
- Sugar, Sugar
- My Father’s Stash
- Teetotaler
- Sexual Shaming
- Obsessive Compulsion
- #MeToo
- Release
- Choices for Healing
- Trauma Institute, Child Trauma Institute
- Safe House for Souls
- Hope Is the Thing with Feathers
- Keeping a New Score
- Individual Reflection Questions
- Book Group Discussion Questions
PART 10: TRIBAL DRUMS BEAT WITH ABANDONMENT
- Inner Circle
- Emblems and Archetypes of Abandonment
- Hard-wired Steps to Exclusion
- The Process of Tribal Exclusion
- Exiles with the Comforts of Home
- Back to the Tribe
- Chosen Famiglia
- Individual Reflection Questions
- Book Group Discussion Questions
EPILOGUE: MENDING THE BROKEN HEART
- Welcome Them at the Door, Laughing
- Be Still, My Heart
- Not Meant to Be
- Bring on the Demons
- My Trustworthy Trauma Therapist
- October 31st Surgery Failed
- One Day Today
- Individual Reflection Questions
- Book Group Discussion Questions
ISBN: 978-0-942702-46-0