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"joseph white" <uglyvan420@excite.com> wrote in message
news:nveqo097ao8fb9i0nh4so1taqi19pkt061@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 6 Nov 2004 18:35:28 -0000, "JB" <JBCatRB@coldman.com> wrote:
>
self-worth a[vbcol=seagreen]
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>
> To consider some actions of mine not of my responsibility could
easily
> make me feel a higher esteem for myself, but I would rather esteem
> myself for being pleased will ALL of my actions, and not being able
to
> escape responsibility from the ones I am not proud of by thinking
> something like, "They're not my fault, but the Devil made me do
that,
> and I was powerless to resist him".
I think I have never thought that anything I've done I did because the
Devil made me do it.
When I spoke about learning how to distinguish that for which I am
responsible and that for which I am not I had in mind these ideas:
1. If someone reacts to something I say or do with anger or by
laughing for example, how they react is not a matter that's within my
control. I may have provoked that reaction but that's where my
responsibility for their reaction ends.
2. I am not responsible for the deaths in old age of my grandparents
and father, all of whom died of natural causes. To a certain extent,
I am responsible for how I reacted to their deaths. For example, if I
had used them as an excuse to drink then I would be choosing to drink
and ought to accept responsibility for my choice.
3. I am not responsible for the troubles in the Middle East for
example. If I let these troubles become for me an excuse to drink,
then again I would be choosing to drink and ought to accept
responsibility for my choice.
I think this is the first time that I have tried to express my
understanding of what it is I am responsible for and what I am not and
therefore at this time I am feeling worried about how people will
respond to this post. So, if I now practice one of the lessons I've
learnt in AA, maybe I could soon find myself no longer feeling
anxious.
ATB
JB
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