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Today's Thought, 12/25/2011
Dec. 26th, 2011 10:26 pmToday's thought from Hazelden is:
Christmas is for children. But it is for grown-ups too. Even if it is a headache, a chore, and nightmare, it is a period of necessary defrosting of chill and hide-bound hearts.
--Lenora Mattingly Weber
Spending time with family over the holidays can make you realize how powerful the messages and memories of your childhood are. Indeed, you may discover that how you define yourself today has a lot to do with your past – and not always in the best of ways.
Rather than stay entrenched in the negative influences from your childhood, you can let go of your attachment to the past by changing your outlook today. Even if you choose to obsess about your past, punish yourself for it, or feel extreme guilt or remorse over it, there is nothing you can do about it now. It is over. Tell yourself this repeatedly.
Rather than hold onto regrets about the past – what you did or did not do, what was right or wrong, or what could have been or might have been better – forgive yourself and focus on what you can do now. Most people cling to people, places, or things not because such things are good for them, but because they are most familiar. You can become comfortable with new people, places, and things when you give them a chance.
Today I will release the hold the past has upon my present.
====
Huh. Well, I guess it's a good thing I don't generally remember my childhood, then. :P
http://www.last.fm/music/Negativland/_/Favorite+Things
Christmas is for children. But it is for grown-ups too. Even if it is a headache, a chore, and nightmare, it is a period of necessary defrosting of chill and hide-bound hearts.
--Lenora Mattingly Weber
Spending time with family over the holidays can make you realize how powerful the messages and memories of your childhood are. Indeed, you may discover that how you define yourself today has a lot to do with your past – and not always in the best of ways.
Rather than stay entrenched in the negative influences from your childhood, you can let go of your attachment to the past by changing your outlook today. Even if you choose to obsess about your past, punish yourself for it, or feel extreme guilt or remorse over it, there is nothing you can do about it now. It is over. Tell yourself this repeatedly.
Rather than hold onto regrets about the past – what you did or did not do, what was right or wrong, or what could have been or might have been better – forgive yourself and focus on what you can do now. Most people cling to people, places, or things not because such things are good for them, but because they are most familiar. You can become comfortable with new people, places, and things when you give them a chance.
Today I will release the hold the past has upon my present.
You are reading from the book:
Morning Light © 2011 by Hazelden Foundation. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in any manner without the permission of Hazelden.
====
Huh. Well, I guess it's a good thing I don't generally remember my childhood, then. :P
http://www.last.fm/music/Negativland/_/Favorite+Things
