A Critical Review Of Tattoos On The Heart By Gregory Boyle

There is a famous quote that goes "The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday". In a survey done by the University of Maryland studies showed 80% of people who where indecisive about what their future had in store for them where just focused on bettering themselves. On another survey done by the rehabilitation center of West Virginia when patients where asked what they missed the most while being in rehabilitation 57% of patients said they missed there old before the influence of drugs took control of them. In the book "Tattoos On the Heart" by Gregory Boyle he talks about his experiences while being a Priest and being the founder of a company called Homeboy Industries that helps employ and support fellow

One day it finally hits him that he wants to get over his addiction so he calls Father Boyle asking if he would accompany him to get enrolled into a rehab center. Pedro is 30 days into his Rehab when he finds out his brother committed suicide while suffering from the same drug addiction. Father Boyle breaks the news to Pedro and picks him up from rehab to go to the funeral. There Pedro talks to Father Boyle about a dream where he is in a dark room, suddenly Father Boyle shows him the path to a light switch using a flashlight. Pedro knows he has to be the one to turn on the lights so he walks over and flips the switch. Being out of the dark he is filled with happiness the light has brought him. In the story Father Boyle was the faith Pedro needed, he never gave up on him and once Pedro found faith in himself he was able to be resilient against the challenges faced with and stayed in rehab in efforts of overcoming his drug addiction. In another chapter Father Boyle tells another story about a kid named George who he was preparing to give baptism to during his stay at a probation camp called Camp Munz. George had been serving time

Father Boyle shows this by quoting a holy spiritual monastic tradition that says "the highest form of sanctity is to live in hell and not lose hope".This shows how important it is to hold onto faith in the darkest of times even the smallest amount of hope helps one to not lose focus and want to give up. Allowing yourself to believe in faith and staying true will also build your resilience to stay on track. Father Boyle uses the quote "Resilience is born by grounding yourself in your own loveliness" to explain the need to be resilient and how to build it. The quote shows how its key to be one with yourself and not lose hope, this will give one the strength and keep them sane in order to create resilience. Then one can learn to embrace difficulties and accept fate, this helps not only find but build ones resilience and maintain the faith that all will end