Almost every belief I cherish today, I scoffed at before becoming committed to a 12 step fellowship. \u00a0I didn’t believe in God. \u00a0I thought that if you gave something away, it was gone forever. \u00a0I was sure that hanging on to resentments was both normal and protective; and in fact, others deserved my negative thoughts, judgments and responses to them. \u00a0Why would they ever change if I didn’t point out the ways in which they should change.<\/p>\n
Yikes. \u00a0What an unkind, uncompromising woman I was. \u00a0I’m so glad I’m not her<\/strong> any more, but, and it’s a big but<\/strong><\/span>, I can reclaim her behavior on a moment’s notice. \u00a0And have in fact recently done so. \u00a0What makes us surrender to the ego’s suggestions is our unwillingness to listen, ever more intently, to the softer approach to life that we get when we allow the God of our understanding to be in charge. \u00a0All it takes is a decision, a small one in fact. \u00a0The results of that change of mind are astonishingly quick and the ripple effect touches all of humanity, in time. \u00a0Every action or thought we have, touches everyone. \u00a0We must be vigilant about this choice.<\/strong><\/p>\n The good news for those of us who have come to recognize the softer, kinder voice that lies within us is the level of peace that comes to us when we let it take charge. \u00a0Immediately. \u00a0Immediately. \u00a0It’s such a quiet decision that others won’t even know we have made it until they observe or even feel our changed demeanor. \u00a0We will sense it, however, and we will want repeated exposure to this state of mind and overall awareness of well being.<\/p>\n Since being exposed to this “other way of seeing and living,” nothing about our old way of living actually and convincingly appeals to us, and yet, on occasion, we can and do<\/strong> slip back into her or him<\/em> so subtly and so efficiently that our companions are thrown off track. \u00a0We are too. \u00a0That’s the really bad news. \u00a0But there are affirmations that can keep us on track. \u00a0(Or bring us back.) Consider these:<\/p>\n 1. I will remember for this one day that everyone crossing my path was sent to teach me something.<\/p>\n 2. There are no accidental visitors on my journey.<\/p>\n 3. I will choose peace over needing to be right today.<\/p>\n 4. For this one day I will do no harm.<\/p>\n 5. For this one day I will pray for every one in front of me at the store, the post office, in a line of traffic.<\/p>\n Simple affirmations like these help us to make not only our own journey holy but the journey everyone else is making too. \u00a0Benefitting the universe happens during tiny opportunities. \u00a0Look for them today.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Almost every belief I cherish today, I scoffed at before becoming committed to a 12 step fellowship. \u00a0I didn’t believe in God. \u00a0I thought that if you gave something away, it was gone forever. \u00a0I was sure that hanging on to resentments was both normal and protective; and in fact, others deserved my negative thoughts, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reflections-in-the-mirror-you-and-yourself"],"yoast_head":"\n