May 15

” Don't wait for your 'ship to come in' and feel angry and cheated when it doesn't. Get going with something small.” Irene Kassorla

I feel…I feel good when I am happy, when I am sad, when I am frustrated or even when I am angry. I am learning to distinguish and separate my feelings from my actions. My emotions are a response to a situation – how it affects me. I can see now that my emotions do not need to be incorporated into the actions that I take. Therefore I can allow myself to feel pain, to feel rejection or to feel angry. There is a reason I feel this way, some part of my beliefs, values or morals that are being confronted. But I do not need to be angry, to return anger in my response. The feelings are my own to be felt and are not meant to be shared. This is a big step in my recovery and my emotional maturity. It is still a new insight and way of behaving and I am conscious that it will take time and patience for it to become a more regular way for me to respond to life, and certainly in situations of conflict. Like everything else I am learning in recovery, awareness of how things are is a powerful force in guiding me to change my perceptions and behaviours.

Affirmation Today I will try to not reflect my feelings in my actions towards others; my emotions are meant for me to perform a self-check before responding appropriately.