Tag Archives: Acceptance

Self-management: A snippet

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It’s happened often enough lately that I may as well tell it.

When I go into the shower room at the shelter, often enough, unhappiness meets me.

The shower stall I prefer isn’t available, and I resent it.

This guy is taking up half the shower bench, and the other half is full also, and I resent it.

This other guy is taking up all kinds of too much time getting dressed, and I resent it.

As soon as I turn my attention to what I will actually do — where to put my clothes, choosing a stall that is available, and getting undressed in itself — all those bad feelings vanish.

Complaining means you’re not doing what you can.

Related:  Here – Now – Can

Originally posted 07/01/16.

Podcast — Some things will never change, Part 1

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That’s just the way it is.

Some things will never change, Part 1

Related:

Music: Bruce Hornsby, “The Way It Is”

Continue reading Podcast — Some things will never change, Part 1 →

30% of Americans are bigots

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Acceptance, or judgment?

Biden slammed for Christmas ‘unity’ speech after year of political attacks: ‘Spare us, you old grinch’ | Fox News

There is a segment of the population who won’t accede to any gesture of reconciliation.  Though I myself didn’t approve of Joe Biden’s divisive remarks about MAGA people in September ’22, the reactions quoted in the article, to Biden’s Christmas ’22 message, are telling.  On the one hand, most of the people quoted are actually outside the conservative mainstream.  On the other hand, they’re there, which is the subject of this post.  The quote from Kevin McCarthy’s spokesperson is particularly troubling; I will not examine whether these folks correctly say Biden said what they say he said. Continue reading 30% of Americans are bigots →

In the forecast: Pain

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(Originally posted 2016-01-16.)

A toothache can distract you completely.

For the past two months, I have now and then, with increasing frequency and duration, had mild toothaches in (I thought) one upper left tooth and one lower left tooth. They always went away; and that’s all I thought of it.

Then last Thursday night there was such severe pain for such a long time, that I lost several hours’ sleep and resolved to get those two teeth filled the next day. But that didn’t happen. The dentist said four teeth must be extracted; and the appointments the clinic scheduled for me are two weeks and four weeks away.

This means: for the coming month, I am going to be in pain of varying severity for varying lengths of time.

It may not be much, now and then; it may be a lot, now and then, and for quite a while now and then. But it’s unavoidable. It’s coming.

How will I choose to feel about it?

Will I accept it, or react continually against it?

Will I hate myself for being in pain? or possibly hate others?  Hate God?

Will I be crying out, “Why me?”

Or may there be other options?

Related:  A short route to agony

From my diary:

Continue reading In the forecast: Pain →

This program turned me away.

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Adapted from a 12/03/15 e-mail to my brothers and some others.

Given instability at the shelter where I’ve been for almost five years, I decided to apply to a certain program affiliated with a major national charity and major local soup kitchen.  This program is residential, has a nice facility, and (as I understood it) was geared toward taking men with histories of addiction or homelessness and rendering them self-supporting.

Since it is a residential program, I would no longer have to carry my bags everywhere I go, vastly increasing the radius within which I can look for work; and, I supposed, I would be able to work any shift.  After all, unlike the shelter where I’ve been, they’ve got a big shove towards self-sufficiency.

They rejected me.

I wrote:

Baptismal grace means: when you get knocked down, you get back up.

Blog post (from October ’14, about getting back up): Life in the outer darkness

In the immediate future, I will be checking out options in transitional housing, and case management services at the clinic where I’m currently in treatment for everything I’m in treatment for.

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What happened?

Continue reading This program turned me away. →

The Real Reason Why You Haven’t Healed Your Trauma/Depression/Heartbreak

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At first I expected this author to affirm the “blame-your-past” orientation of “the prevailing psychological wisdom of our time.”  Instead, she sets forth an intriguing vision remarkably similar to my own, with, for me, remarkably intriguing ramifications that I want to consider further.

Her counsel is to accept What Is.

Continue reading The Real Reason Why You Haven’t Healed Your Trauma/Depression/Heartbreak →

10. Strategies

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THE WAY OF PEACE

← 8. Heart and soul Home  11. Tactics →

Strategies pertain to long-range goals, or a basic posture one means to maintain over a long period of time.  Tactics are plans of what to do from moment to moment.  In this chapter and the next I set forth the strategies and tactics known to me, that I personally use. Continue reading 10. Strategies →

Verna Moeller, saint in light

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We can change history.

My daily prayer time begins with prayer for various chronic health conditions.  The last one on the list is my right ear:  for years, I’ve had significant hearing loss in that ear resulting from a patulous eustachian tube.  I believe my youngest brother, my mother, and her mother all have or had the same thing in the same ear also.

One morning, I came to that point in my prayers, and stopped.  I noted that I have prayed for that condition every day for many years, and there has never been any change.  I said, maybe this is no more likely to be healed in this life, than Verna Moeller’s disfigurement was likely to be healed in this life.  She is beyond the veil, now, but at that moment I devoted significant time and energy to her healing.

Continue reading Verna Moeller, saint in light →