Friday, February 3, 2017

Love And Tolerance

I have heard people talk about love and tolerance for others.  I would expand that to love and tolerance for oneself.  We are imperfect, wounded by past events and people, have physical and mental limits and emotional feelings, inappropriate to the circumstances.  This list is for when we are sane.  We need to accept ourselves, both the good and the not so good.  We are not mass murderers and bank robbers.  We have the faults of the human condition.  Beating ourselves up over them won't heal or change much for the better.  What does an emotional binge over some shortcoming acted out do to make things better?  Acceptance, followed by simply trying to do what is feasible will be less damaging to ourselves and others.  Maybe a prayer for self-tolerance too. A simple example: my back hurts.  Rather than continue to run and make it worse, I stop running until things settle down.  I don't beat myself up saying, "I should not hurt, be old, or imperfect." Stuff happens.  Accept and be grateful for what I have.  One more example:  I leave the house and forget something that was on my list of things to take with me.  An explosion over my forgetfulness will not get that forgotten thing into my hands or pocket.  Some days are harder than others to love me, but I try.  Friends help.

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