The key to moving beyond what happened to "us" is to stop seeing and thinking of yourself as the "victim". JWs appeal and play up to an individual's sense of narcissism and self-importance, seeing everything in terms of THEIR feelings, THEIR relationship with God and Jesus, the importance of THEIR actions in FS, etc. Growing beyond all of that is accomplished by FOCUSING on OTHERS, those around you, and gaining the ability to preceive and explore vantage points that are DIFFERENT from yours. They may SAY that Christians HAVE to be humble, but it's only an act: you HAVE to ACT like you're humble, when ultimately the act is built upon the THREAT of being FORCED to do so.
The JWs REFUSE to see the World from other perspectives, and instead seek to ISOLATE themselves from the World out of fear, as they perceive the World as a hostile environment intent on causing them harm. It's a lie; the World is actually a place full of many different people with various agendas, where some ARE malicious, yes, but MOST are quite benign and friendly to others. JWs obviously don't have any monopoly on morality (in fact, the OPPOSITE is the case; stressing blind obedience to Gods is a recipe for amorality, or pseudo-morality, at least).
The goal for today should be to identify someone who's NOT you, and try to put yourself in their shoes, thinking about what they MIGHT appreciate and then performing some random act of kindness FOR them, free of ulterior motives (not expecting ANYTHING in return, eg JWs hope to save THEMSELVES in Armageddon, so there's always a huge string attached to ALL good works they do, since they're ultimately doing it in order to save themselves).
The way to learn empathy for others is to BECOME empathetic, through practice, and that requires breaking free from tired habitual old thought patterns and endless loops; you do that by reflecting on others, and not always on ourselves.
Adam
