Surviving A Shark Attack On Land ?

"There are two types of people in this world: good and bad. The good sleep better, but the bad seem to enjoy the waking hours much more" - Woody Allen.

We’ve all been betrayed at least one time in our lives (if we’re lucky, no more often). Sadly enough, it can happen many times in a lifetime as we interact with family, friends and co-workers. We often put our trust and faith in people we believe will never hurt us, will always be there for us—but it is usually these people that hurt us the most, simply because we didn’t see it coming.

Dr. Laura Schlessinger, a licensed marriage and family therapist, popular talk show host and author of 12 New York Times bestsellers has written a new book, “Surviving A Shark Attack (On Land): Overcoming Betrayal and Dealing With Revenge”( Harper/$25.99). Dr. Schlessinger writes a daily blog and is a regular NewsMax columnist. She is heard daily on Sirius/XM Channel 155 live from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. pacific time.

This is one of Dr. Schlessinger’s most personal books. As I read through the seven chapters I found I could relate to what she was saying in so many ways. I thought of all the times throughout my own life that I have been betrayed, all the times I thought of ways I could seek revenge.

Dr. Schlessinger drew from her personal experience as well as a myriad of listeners and readers. She examines the nature of betrayal, and the healthy and unhealthy ways to deal with it.

Reading the book made me think of all the times I wanted to seek revenge out of pure anger and rage, but never did. It made me revisit the times I was bullied in school, betrayed by friends and sometimes family, and simply made to feel as if I didn’t matter. I always left it to my own belief in karma. I firmly believed karma would take care of it all—sometimes it did, sometimes it didn’t.

Here is a passage from Dr. Schlessinger’s book that I thought was interesting:

“Betrayals are a breach of trust to a code or a person, including acts of dishonesty, lying, cheating, or stealing, double-crossing, deception, gossiping, duplicity, unfaithfulness, treason, leading astray, undermining, to name only a few faces of betrayal,” says Dr. Schlessinger in her book.

I found this book to be very informative but at the same time I wanted to tell this woman, “Oh my God! Just let it Go!” This coming from someone who does not have “letting go” as part of her vocabulary. It’s just funny to hear someone else go on and on about being betrayed and how to deal with it.

Later in the book, the author comes to a philosophical conclusion about revenge and happiness. She says, “I thought for a moment about how delightful the day had been, and it occurred to me that I was unbelievably happy and content with my life … in spite of those who’ve spited me. That moment was transcendent.”

I completely agree with her. Happiness is the best revenge because, for those who are miserable, seeing people happy is the last thing they want. They want someone to commiserate with, someone to share their pain, but often they are left alone because their anger is too much, their need for revenge is too much.

(If you can’t tell, I can relate to this subject all too well.) 

Overcoming betrayal is hard—very hard—especially when it is a constant in your life. Having faith in others is simply not something you can grab on to for too long.

Dr. Schlessinger said in her book, “There are times when you must physically and emotionally walk away, notions of revenge, justice, come-uppance, karma simple have to be tossed into the wind as you walk through a magical door into another realm—away from the Twilight Zone you’ve been in.”

I’ve pitied those so unhappy with their lives that they enjoy it when others are angry at them, who enjoy isolation and darkness because everyone has wronged them. I’ve walked away from these types of people. 

“Is ‘walking away’ revenge? No, I don’t look at it that way at all. I see great strength and good sense in bowing out with some declaration like: Look, I can’t be around you anymore,” says Dr. Schlessinger.

Well readers of this blog post, I am going to let you read more of this book on your own. I think this book is worth picking up or downloading. Visit www.drlaura.com for more details. Dr. Schlessinger also has her own YouTubeChannel (YouTube.com/drlaura).