Last thing... Just one sentence in particular from Sandi to not lose track of... "The place that may be different for you and me is that I had to reach a place where I felt humility. "
She puts this more tactfully than I usually do. I generally tell people to "drop the arrogance." But the same message is important to anyone struggling in their lives, in any way for that matter.
(1) We are far less perfect than we think, even if we don't think we are perfect. We are all flawed human beings that experience deep pain.
(2) We know far less about others than we think we know.
(3) Much of what we actively dislike in others is really all about ourselves and our own pain.
(4) Most things that people do that hurt us really aren't about us, but about their own pain.
This amounts to finding oneself in a position in which we are not in a position to judge others so much, we don't assume we know their motivations or what they are capable of. We question ourselves when we find ourselves being hostile and critical toward others -- what is it in ourselves that provokes that reaction? And, we try not to take things personally when others trespass against us, because they almost never mean to do so. And, NONE of this means that we must choose to accept treatment that we find unacceptable.
