One thing that makes it so difficult to drop feeling sorry for ourselves is how real it feels when we are full of self-regret. But any perception of reality that requires us to submit to any such self-centered suffering is always a lie!
Here’s just one of several facts to be revealed that will give you the courage to walk away from ever feeling sorry for yourself again. Study it until you suddenly smile!
The secret attraction behind self-pity — why it’s so hard to set down — is that the part of us that ‘feels like nothing’ makes the part of us that ‘points out this nothingness’ feel quite special!
Negative states, in general, are part of an interior conspiracy to produce the illusion that no choice exists for us other than to cave in to their punishing presence. But, in truth, it is not we who are without choice in such moments. Rather it is the negative state that has no choice but to disappear as soon as we remember that no darkness is greater than the light that reveals it. In our heart of hearts, we know the truth of this liberating idea because we’ve all seen the great law that sits behind it.
We know that love is greater than hatred, courage slays fear, and that what is light, bright, and good only shines the more for anything that tries to darken its way.
The key to dismissing the parts of us that love to attend “pity parties” is to blow out the match that lights the candles of bitterness before they become inflamed.
Here is another lifesaving fact, so welcome the healing it brings by being willing to see the truth hidden within it.
There lives nothing real in our past — regardless of how disappointing or painful it may have been — that can grab us and make us its captive, any more than dark shadows have the power to keep us from walking into the sunlight.
Now, add to this fact the realization that there is never a good reason to go along with feeling bad about yourself, and you’re on your way to living in a world without self-pity.
Excerpted From: The Courage to Be Free: Discover Your Original Fearless Self, pages 75-77
About the Author: Guy Finley, Bi-Weekly Mentor, is the best-selling author of more than 40 books and audio albums on self-realization. He is the founder and director of Life of Learning Foundation, a nonprofit center for spiritual discovery located in southern Oregon where he gives talks four times each week. For more information visit www.guyfinley.org, and sign up to receive a free helpful weekly newsletter and other gifts.
Click here to read Guy’s autobiography and find more of his articles posted on The Teen Mentor.
Click here and Subscribe to The Teen Mentor to receive more real-life wisdom straight to your inbox.