Snips

Frequently, when faced with a problem, we may attempt to solve it in a particular way. When that way doesn't work, we may continue trying to solve
the problem in that same way.
We may get frustrated, try harder, get more frustrated, and then exert more
energy and influence into forcing the same solution that we have already
tried and that didn't work. That approach makes us crazy. It tends to get us stuck and trapped. It is the stuff that unmanageability is made of.
We can get caught in this same difficult pattern in relationships, in tasks, in any area of our life. We initiate something, it doesn't work, doesn't flow, we feel badly, then try the same approach harder, even though it's not working and flowing.
Sometimes, it's appropriate not to give up and to try harder. Sometimes, it's more appropriate to let go, detach, and stop trying so hard.
If it doesn't work, if it doesn't flow, maybe life is trying to tell us something. If we have become frustrated by repeated efforts that aren't producing desired results, we may be trying to force ourselves down the wrong path. Sometimes, a different solution is appropriate. Sometimes, a different path opens up. Often, the answer will emerge more clearly in the quietness of letting go than it will in the urgency, frustration, and desperation of pushing harder.
Today, I will not make myself crazy by repeatedly trying solutions that have proven themselves unsuccessful. If something isn't working, I will step back and wait for guidance.
Melody Beattie ©

If you desire to align yourself with God's love, take an honest assessment of where love is lacking in your life. Do you embrace the difficult people in your family, work or neighborhood? Do you hold grudges or do you forgive those who betray you? The only way to keep in alignment is to practice choosing love, again and again, even when it's difficult.
Mary Manin Morrissey

AA Thought for the Day / We absolutely insist on enjoying life. . . / AA, p.132


You've got to take life by the cojones and let it sweep you up in its extravagance. There's generally too much "me" -- too much ego -- trying to take life and chew it up. Relax and let life smother you. Life will consume you if you let it. You're the ring on the carousel and life is coming around to grab you. Don't shy away. When life comes around to grab you, throw yourself out there. Just the colors in a room and people's faces, which are all treasure houses of impressions, can elevate you to states of mystic clarity. Watch even the nastiest person carefully enough, once or twice a week, and you'll have to be moved to compassion and tenderness.
Lee Lozowick

But more important than the food we put into our bodies are thoughts we put into our minds. Thoughts of bitterness like, "I hate her!" Thoughts of despair like, "I'll never be happy again." Thoughts of fear like, "I could never do that!" And thoughts of worry, thoughts of greed and thoughts of self-loathing. A constant diet of these killer thoughts will destroy us long before cholesterol.
Steve Goodier

Life is an interpretive experience. What happens is less important than how we respond to our circumstances. An intense stimulus that some people report as pain, others report as pleasure. It is we who decide what the interpretation will be.
Douglas Bloch

Say what you need, speak your truth and be firm in your commitment to your own healing. Only through your commitment to honor yourself can you attract a partner willing to do the same.
Paul Ferrini

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.
Clarissa Pinkola-Estes

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.
A Course In Miracles