Daily Motivation 1-9-2012

Monday, January 9, 2012

Today's Gift

 

Feelings are much like waves, we can't stop them from coming but we can choose which one to surf. ~Jonatan Mårtensson

 

Leaving Room for Feelings

We need to allow enough room for others and ourselves to have and work through our feelings.

 

We are people, not robots. An important part of us - who we are, how we grow, how we live - is connected to our emotional center. We have feelings, sometimes - difficult ones, sometimes-disruptive ones, and sometimes-explosive ones that need to be worked through.

 

By facing and working through these feelings we and others grow. In relationships, whether it be a love relationship, a friendship, a family relationship, or a close business relationship, people need room to have and work through their feelings.

 

Some call it "going through the process."

 

We need time to work through feelings. We need the space and permission to work through these feelings in the awkward, uncomfortable, sometimes messy way that people work through feelings.

 

This is life. This is growth. This is okay.

 

I can set reasonable boundaries for behavior and still leave room for a range of emotions.

 

From the book The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©

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Twenty-Four Hours a Day

Keep It Simple

 

The Chinese say that water is the most powerful element, because it is perfectly nonresistant. It can wear away a rock and sweep all before it. --Florence Scovel Shinn

Nonresistance, ironically, may be a posture we struggle with. Nonresistance means surrendering the ego absolutely. For many of us, the ego, particularly disguised as false pride, spurred us on to struggle after struggle. "Can't they see I'm right?" we moaned, and our resistance only created more of itself. Conversely, flowing with life, "bubbling" with the ripples, giving up our ego, releases from us an energy that heals the situation that smoothes the negative vibrations in our path. Peace comes to us. We will find serenity each time we willingly humble ourselves.

Action for the Day: Resistance is more familiar. Nonresistance means growth and peace. I'll try for serenity today.

 

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One Day At A Time

 

Listening
If you really listen (not just hear) what is being said,
you may find the person talking has quietly slipped inside your head
and seems to be describing the landscape there --
the shifting shapes of nameless fears, the color and chill of impending doom --
if not the actual events and words stored in your brain.
- Living Sober, p. 85

Thought to Ponder . . .
Learn to listen; listen to learn.

AA-related 'Alconym' . . .
E S H = Experience, Strength and Hope.

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Daily Motivation

Raise those expectations

After life has dealt you a setback, it may seem reasonable to lower your expectations. And yet, it is in fact just as reasonable, and much more advisable, to raise those expectations.

What has already happened has indeed set the stage for what is to come. However, your past does not have to control your future, because you can control and direct what you do right now.

If you visualize and expect more disappointment, you’re sure to get it. But you don’t want to do that.

Instead, use this moment to break the pattern. Stop looking down on what has been, and choose to look upward to the best that can be.

You are more experienced, more knowledgeable, and more determined than ever before. So raise your expectations accordingly.

Form your expectations based on the best you know you can be. Feel the power of your most treasured dreams as you enthusiastically bring those dreams to life.

— Ralph Marston