New blog page on A Course in Miracles

http://btruetoyourself.blogspot.com/p/acim.html

New Twitter Account

If you Tweet you can find me on Twitter: @ResolutionNancy

Resentments and other habits

Excerpt from the July 23 entry in Hope for Today:

Courage to Change states, "Resentments mark the places where I see myself as a victim." ... Feeling resentment was like drinking poison and hoping the person I resented would die! ... I knew what to do... work the Steps...However, I felt such resistance to this that I needed to ask myself, "What do I get out of feeling like a victim?" ... I felt protected by my resentments.  they acted as a barbed wire fence to keep away the people I felt had hurt me.  The problem was I kept pricking my own skin on the barbs.  I also was comfortable with my resentments.  I wondered who I'd be without them, because they were as familiar to me as my own skin.   Realizing that my resentments are not necessary or protective opened the door to change... I became entirely willing.

This can also be applied to other emotional habits (worry, stress, impatience, etc).   What emotional habit are you comfortable with? What would you be like without it?

Free Kindle Book from the HomeScholar (Wed only)

Lee Binz The HomeScholar provides homeschooling resources.   She is offering a free kindle book today (Wednesday 7/23):
   
       Your Goals This Year: A Year by Year Guide to Homeschooling High School (Coffee Break Books Book 16)


Here is a link to her website - The Home Scholar

Powerless

As a grateful member of Al-Anon, I've become familiar with the 12 steps of the program.   The first three steps could be summarized as:

1) Admitted we were powerless and our lives had become unmanageable.
2) Came to believe that a Higher Power could restore us to sanity.
3) Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the God of our understanding.

I've recently been inspired to learn more about St. Teresa of Avila, an mystic of the Catholic Church.  Her autobiography, Teresa of Avila: The Book of My Life , was written around 1562 (roughly 450 years ago).

In the chapter "Twenty Years of Turbulence" she describes her struggles with her spiritual journey.
Near the end of the chapter, she writes:

"I beseeched the Beloved to help me.  But I failed to put the whole of my trust in God and relinquish all traces of trust in myself.  I searched earnestly for a remedy; I tried everything.  But without the fundamental realization that I was powerless and that the only thing that I could rely on was God, my efforts were useless." (emphasis mine).

I got goosebumps.

The 7 Habits of Emotionally Intelligent People

Four major skills in Emotional Intelligence:
     the ability to perceive, reason, understand, and manage emotions.

The 7 Habits for you to develop:
1) Self Awareness - pay attention to what you are feeling
2) Empathy - the ability to understand the emotions of other people
3) Self-regulation - think before you act
4) Motivated - able to take an emotional leap and make a change
5) Great Social Skills - developed by 1 and 2 above.  interested in healthy social relationships and helping others succeed.
6) Sharing - not only aware, they are able to share their feelings appropriately with others.
7) Find the Cause - able to correctly identify the underlying causes of their emotions.  

http://psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/fl/The-7-Habits-of-Emotionally-Intelligent-People.htm?p=1

Serenity

From today's inspirational reading:
     "Serenity is not the end of pain.   It's about my ability to flourish peacefully no matter what life brings my way."

      In fact, I've found pain very motivational.   It's a challenge to handle gracefully, but is often the voice of my Higher Power sending me in a new direction.   So, with that in mind, I can become serene and flourish under any circumstance.