Acceptance frees us.
Conflict can result from trying to change a person or situation that we don't like. And conflict causes stress and agitation, both of which limit our lives. They steal our ability to be open to opportunities for growth and change.
Why is it so hard to accept situations we don't like? Twelve Step programs tell us it's because of our ego. We feel diminished when others don't agree with our plan or our opinion. Our self-worth is tied to other people's reactions.
But we can change. We can let the success stories we hear in this program inspire us to let others be. We will discover how much better we feel when we're not on the battlefield with our friends and loved ones.
I don't have to have conflict with other people today. I can let others be themselves and do what feels right to them. I'll feel more at ease too.
You are reading from the book:
Hear! hear!
This is the hardest thing for me to do than anything else in recovery. I'm either too focused on self to the exclusion of others, or too focused on you to the detriment of me.
Staying out of games, just for today, is a piece of cake compared to that idiot in the market today, running up and down the aisles with her over-loaded cart, grabbing things from both sides of the aisles as if she's on a game show and the timer is ready to ding stop. She was worse than a road rager. She breezed by me like a cyclone and banged my cart. Jeez.
Or the checker who needed to talk to each and every customer as if they were long lost buddies and they were catching up on the latest gossip. Problem is the 3 people in line in front of me had abut 3 items each, and I had a full cart. I could have changed the oil in the car and baked a pie while the "discussions" while waiting for my turn.
Or the 3 cars across the road trying squeeze through the red light so they don't have to wait 2 minutes.
Well I'm home now. Safe in my comfortable warm environment, where I get to practice "letting go" with my fellow recovering ex-gamers.