You are reading from the book Each Day a New Beginning
...there are two entirely opposite attitudes possible in facing the problems of one's life. One, to try and change the external world, the other, to try and change oneself.
--Joanna Field
God grant us the courage to change what we can - ourselves. How difficult it is to let go of our struggles to control and change someone else. How frequently we assume that everything would be fine if only someone else would change. All that needs to change is an attitude, our own.
Taking responsibility for improving one's own life is an important step toward emotional health. Blaming another for our circumstances keeps us stuck and offers no hope for improved conditions. Personal power is as available as our decision to use it. And it is bolstered by all the strength we'll ever need. The decision to take our lives in hand will exhilarate us. The decision each day to be thoughtful, prayerful, and wholly responsible for all that we do will nourish our developing selves. Each responsible choice moves us toward our wholeness, strengthening our sense of self, our well-being.
I will change only who I can today: myself.
From Each Day a New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women by Karen Casey (c) 1982
I totally agree. I have the power and better yet responsibility to be a better person, to take the bad habits I've learned over years and to transform them into positive ways of handling my life. It takes time and repetition and thought and working the program and, and....hey, that's life! :)
A smart guy I know once told me..."if other people are your problem you are f****d!" He was smart but a little crass. :)
He was trying to show me that I am my problem and that's great news. My chances of changing others to suit me is about 0%. My chances of changing myself so that I have a better experience in the world are somewhat more than 0%. I can change my attitudes and how I react to people. If I can do those two tiny things...my life gets much better.
Game free since 3/3/2014.
Or the variation on the Serenity Prayer that I heard from somebody here on OLGA once..."God, grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the people I can, and the wisdom to know that the only person in the second category is me."
I've certainly had times where I just wanted somebody else to change, and some of the time I was even right about the fact that the other person was the primary problem in the situation, but if I'm going to do what I CAN do, that means I'm always going to be working on changing myself. I might be 90% in the right and the other person 90% or more in the wrong, but I'm still the only one I should be working on changing. Heck...I might be 100% in the right, but that doesn't mean that it's time for me to start trying to change the other person...it's time to either accept things or just get out so I don't get brought down by it. Thanks for this post, Pat.
When you're going through hell...keep going. --Winston Churchill There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still --Corrie ten Boom
True LS. I get stuck in that "I can change others" thinking too. It's what I need to work on most. I can't change anyone else other than myself.
Oh I love that.