Welcome to a special "Good Books" series strand Episode of "The Good Listening To" with Madeleine Black - The Courage Cultivator!"The Good Listening To" is the Storytelling Podcast Series & Show that sets out to discover "The Story Behind The Story Of You!"(If you've written a Book we set out to uncover the "story behind the story of your cover" - see what we're doing there?!) Madeleine Black is author of the best selling Book "Unbroken: Used, Beaten But Never Broken" and Presenter of "Unbroken: The Podcast - Healing Through Storytelling"She is the self-described "Courage Cultivator", with a powerful and compelling story to tell:A profound story of rape - not once but 3 times - forgiveness - of how to invert shame - of how to get back up, regain your power and move on, more powerful than ever - in how she now inspires and helps others, through the power of Storytelling, to do the same."We are not defined by what knocks us down. We are defined by what gets us back up". Madeleine BlackIf you too have written a Book and would like to get involved and be "given a good listening to" too to tell us all about it, then by all means do get in touch:chris@secondcurve.uk+44 (0) 7711 644 094MORE ABOUT MADELEINE BLACK: At 13, Madeleine Black survived a fate worse than death. Over 40 years later, she is now willing to talk about it. Aged 13, with a friend from school, it just seemed like a good adventure - a night on their own in an empty house, with a cover story to keep their parents happy. For Madeleine it turned into just about the worst imaginable nightmare - vodka, violent abuse, torture, humiliation and rape by two older boys, one with a knife, lasting four hours! Followed by 3 years of secrecy and silence, where the untreated trauma expressed itself in feelings of utter worthlessness, casual sex - non-consensual on three particular occasions - depression, an eating disorder and a suicide attempt. It took literally years of therapy with a variety of different practitioners, a lot of work and the love of one good man to arrive at a place where Madeleine can at last accept that she need no longer fear men or dream eye-for-an-eye revenge on the teenage monsters who years ago threatened to kill her if she ever broke her silence. Madeleine has now found her voice, has the same loving husband and their three inspirational children. At 5 feet and two inches, as Shakespeare might have put it,  “Madeleine may be little but she is fierce.” Her children are evidence of her own ‘best revenge’. She now has the courage to speak her truth and to write her book about it.  For her, acceptance still remains 180 degrees away from approval. As Maya Angelou expressed it: “I can be changed by what happens to me - but I refuse to be reduced by it.” Madeleine has transformed her pain into purpose and now uses her story to help others start to heal their own individual traumas. Madeleine‘s brutal honesty is well worth listening to.Reg Starkey, Editor Health Triangle Magazine“The Good Listening To: Your Life & Times With Me Chris Grimes!” is the Show & Podcast series that features “The Clearing”:Where all good Questions come to be asked - and all good Stories come to be told…Think 'Desert Island Discs' but in a Clearing - and with Stories rather than Music!With some lovely juicy Storytelling metaphors to also enjoy along the way:The Clearing itself - a Tree - a lovely juicy Storytelling exercise called “5-4-3-2-1” - some Alchemy - some Gold - a cheeky bit of Shakespeare - and a CAKE!So it’s all to play for! Hurrah!(…and indeed Huzzah!)Enjoy!