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รพ as i realize my need to be forgiven, i tend to be more forgiving รพ

Posted: Thu, Jul 29, 2010 09:54:10 AM

just as i am often unforgiving of my own mistakes, i may shut out friends and family members when they do not meet my expectations.
the story of my life these days. as much as i know living in expectations causes me to be angry, bitter, resentful and cynical, i just cannot seem to let go and allow the POWER that keeps me clean to remove this from my life. more and more, i am tripping back down this way too familiar path and more and more, i find myself swallowing my feelings instead of acting out. in a word, i am worth less than the people around me, and i have gotten the clarity to feel when a shortcoming is about to be acted upon. so instead of letting go, being present in the moment and allowing those feelings to wash over me like a breaker on the beach, i revert to the behavior of freezing those waves with the icy arctic blast that i learned in active addiction. the only problem with that, is today i lack the tools to keep them frozen, as i no longer desire to live in active addiction. i know a quick this or that will fix those frozen waves into a semi-permanent state, BUT today is all about learning how to be who i really am, and allowing myself to be a part of life in recovery.
i am on the path to learning to let these go again, as i am certain that this is just a symptom of the addict within, trying out an old trick in a new way. the FIRST STEP work i am doing is stripping me of my illusions of being cured or even being further along the recovery continuum than i am. although i loath to say it, i am right where i am supposed to be, and no wailing, bitching or moaning is going to change that. my only light in all of this self-imposed darkness is the path before me, namely another cycle of step work and learning once again to put away what i need to put away, experience what i need to experience and let the rest of it go. just as i will never be recovered, and just as where i see myself in the recovery process will never be where i think i want to be, my expectations of those around me will almost always exceed their grasp.
so it is off to the backyard to hammer out some work, enjoy a cigar and to see if just for right now, i can be who and what i am and not who and what i think i want to be. that is task enough for today.

∞ DT ∞


Another Look

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Tao Te Ching

☯ The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao ☯

The Tao Teh King, or The Tao and Its Characteristics
by Lao-Tse
Translated by James Legge

Book 2

He who in (Tao's) wars has skill
Assumes no martial port;
He who fights with most good will
To rage makes no resort.
He who vanquishes yet still
Keeps from his foes apart;
He whose hests men most fulfil
Yet humbly plies his art.

Thus we say, 'He ne'er contends,
And therein is his might.'
Thus we say, 'Men's wills he bends,
That they with him unite.'
Thus we say, 'Like Heaven's his ends,
No sage of old more bright.'