Thank you, AdamAW, for reminding me of one of the strongest tools I can use for personal empowerment.



I am grateful to those who did respond with compassion as I tentatively tried to express my feelings or requests. Those first successes encouraged me.



I became aware of all the times I had handed over control of my emotions to someone else, ie. "You make me so mad when you..." or "You hurt me so much when you...". Just pausing long enough to rephrase allowed me to decide, more & more frequently, that I could chose not to get mad or hurt, to retain control myself.



Yes, there were times I was open & honest with someone who was not & that taught me more. As Kahlil Gibran said, "I have learned silence from the talkative; tolerance from the intolerant & kindness from the unkind. I should not be ungrateful to those teachers."


It's so much more fun to thank someone who's tried to hurt you. It's easier to smile as I think, "How thoughtful of you to offer me this opportunity to practice discernment. Bye!"



I am particularly grateful to everyone here at Psy Cnt for their teaching, caring, & inspiration. Now I'm finally finding some answers to the questions I've been asking.