If I take a hard look at what causes me despair I see I have swatted away many hands that may have helped me understand how to do better. Friends, if there is any sort of faith in your life that overcomes despair hang on to it, allow yourself to explore it, listen.
Listen when people speak. Soften your voice when you feel yourself becoming harsh and judgmental. Grow into silence and allow it to create a space for awareness and understanding of self and other.
Where do you feel valued and under-valued? How many friends do you have that are true friends? Do you have any? Do you find that it's easier to be superficial with your friends and family members out of duty than to create a true, definite love, a deep caring and authentic expression of who you are?
When you look back over the landscape of your life, do you see and feel love or difficulty? I was the difficult one because I questioned authority, but it rolled forward as normal. What's normal when it's nonsense?
"This story went well because of my connection to you."
Harm.
Is it possible to be angry or frustrated and still be kind and respectful to those we are angry with or frustrated by? And if we practice kindness and respect, how long will our emotional sobriety last?
What roles do you play? How selectively do you spend your energy and how often are you depleted? What have you received that builds you up and is it a balanced exchange?
Challenge, compensation and balance in relationship.
Talking with a friend or asking for guidance from your Higher Power, do you listen, or do you just keep talking?
How do we balance vigilance with control, safety with enjoyment, security with freedom? Must we define chaos and reason a path through it, or can we keep it simple?
What can you safely ignore? If there are no more excuses and the time for action is now, will it be uncomfortable or healing?
When does responsibility end and resentment begin? It's time to cut the cord between guilt and well-being.
Does God exist? How do you know?
How can we feel comfort in our discomfort, calm instead of urgency in an emergency? Do you call upon that quiet, calm, still space within when you need to? Are you able to connect with your higher power?
What is healthy connection and what is dysfunction? Can we connect and also ask permission to do it?
Are you willing to explore and where do you look for guidance when you move into uncharted territory?
Are there times when you feel like you cannot go on? Where does the light come from?
When do we ever get around to that?
What sort of self do you bring to your relationships? Are you self-less? Perhaps it's time to be self-more. More life, more love, more esteem.
What doors need to be opened and what doors closed and walked away from?
Are you guilty of loving too much, trying too hard? It's not our place to insert ourselves between the other and their path. Does our ego have the answers? Who do you see yourself supporting when you could actually be robbing the other of the reward and consequence of their higher power? Whose business do you need to get out of and what mirror do you need to look into?
Rage is ugly.
Where do you demand perfection of yourself and those around you? None of us is perfect. We can only do our best.
Use your voice or remain silent? Allow yourself the joy and freedom of finding your voice and speaking.
Where is the space between an unmanageable life and understanding the place where our power lies?
When does the problem-free day occur and is that a descriptor for what life, realized, should be? If, through conflict, we realize the joys of our lives, how do we redefine problem?
