Happy Thanksgiving! I am grateful for you. If it weren’t for you
I wouldn’t be writing this blog every week.

I made a big decision recently, that is a big deal for a people
pleaser who’s trying to recover one day at a time.

I am willing to be hurt by you. This means I keep my
heart open when I want to close it. This means reaching
out to you to share my message and see how I can support,
if you’re ready for that.

Being of service becomes more important than keeping
myself safe from rejection, abandonment, and the pain of
just being alive.

Isn’t the need to self protect what keeps us from really
risking living? To love is to say, “I know I’m going to be hurt
and disappointed at times, and I go into this relationship with
my eyes wide open, knowing the risk I take. It’s worth it to be
loved by you and love you back. Thank you.”

This is harder to do when it comes to our immediate
loved ones than with clients, at least for me.

Ever since Maddie died 2 years ago, I’ve tried even harder
(yes it’s been a long time pattern that really started with Maddie)
to find ways to control my husband, Steve’s, and my mom’s health
choices. There is a fear that if I don’t instruct them how to
take care of themselves, they will die.

And I’ll have to watch them suffer, thus causing me to
suffer. See how it comes back to self-protection?

When I try to control them and they don’t comply with my advice,
I get angry and lose power. “The one who angers you controls you.”
So I’m creating disconnection and discord within myself and with them.

What my Higher Self really wants is to love and accept them. So
today I choose to be open to the possibility of choosing another way.

I choose to be open to BEING gratitude, embodying appreciation
for who I am today and who they are, fully knowing that I’m blessed
to even have my loved ones with me today.

How can you BE gratitude today? Gratitude is a verb because it’s all
about the actions we take to express our love.

I love that you are in my life. Thank you.

Peace & Blessings,

Angie Monko