Ann

You are reading from the book The Language of Letting Go

Powerless over Others

Stop making excuses for other people.

Stop making excuses for ourselves.

While it is our goal to develop compassion and achieve forgiveness, acceptance, and love, it is also our goal to accept reality and hold people accountable for their behavior. We can also hold ourselves accountable for our own behavior and, at the same time, have compassion and understanding for ourselves.

When we claim powerlessness, we are not claiming irresponsibility. We have no power to control others, what they do, what they did, or what they might do. We're stating that we are willing to end an ineffective life based on willpower and control. And we're beginning a spiritual, mental, and emotional journey in which we take responsibility for ourselves.

We are not victims. We are not helpless. Accepting powerlessness when that is appropriate enables us to begin owning our true power to take care of ourselves.

Today, I will avoid making excuses for my own or someone else's behavior. I will let consequences and responsibility fall where they belong.

From The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie ©1990, Hazelden Foundation.

Ann

It took work for me to find acceptance of the fact that I could not control anyone else, and that any thoughts that I could were merely illusions.

Once I stopped trying to change that which was not mine to change, I found I could use that same energy on something more positive...me...and living my life well.

It was that acceptance that allowed me to stop living in the problem and begin living in the solution.

Hugs