Accepting Disappointments

When someone has disappointed you, you may spend hours trying to figure out why?

Why didn't they see it your way?

Why didn't they love you, your way?

You may try to convince them of their insincerity. You give examples, you cry, you suffer. We have many ways of running from acceptance.

Acceptance is a place where your pain is acknowledged and your peace is secured.

Acceptance is realizing that what you did not receive was not because of you.

Acceptance is the peaceful recognition that love does not eradicate diversity in relationships.

Acceptance means your journey continues more honestly because you are closer to accepting who you are.

From: Kiss Your Life... 365 Reasons to Love Who You Are

Reason: 85  Page: 103

By: Ann Mody Lewis Ph.D.

Commentary:

Disappointments are inevitable, even when we work to insulate our lives from their sting. 
From childhood through adulthood, they spoil our fun by altering our dreams.

How do we survive disappointment? 
What do they mean about us? 
Do we cause disappointments or are we a victim of them?
How can we continue to believe in life when disappointments are so unending?

I like to think of disappointments as the emotional distance between anticipations and the realities I come to face. As we look back on parental love, begin a new love, start a new job, or dream of purchasing a dream car, we are forced to reckon with realities we have no control of. Some of us turn away from disappointment as a way of protecting ourselves from pain, but the pain doesn't go away. It is stored in the subconscious awaiting a future victim to unleash its fury.

Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful. If we learn to expect disappointments because they are part of our human condition, we'll be less shocked by their appearance. Instead of denying them, we can learn to embrace them and grieve our sadness.

Jesus said: Don't throw a stone in anyone's eye, because you have a rock in your own.

Mistakes are humbling to admit, painful to endure, and challenging to overcome; but they can lead us into maturity...which means we are less afraid of life. There is something wonderful about knowing
that a broken heart cannot be destroyed by a broken promise.

February's discussion is a great time for each of us to plan a strategy that makes surviving disappointments more powerful than experiencing them. 

Topics will include: Defining disappointment as a child or adult.
Is it pessimistic or realistic to expect disappointments? 
Why are childhood disappointments so powerful?
Can we learn to be peaceful in the midst of disappointment? 

Let's talk about what has broken our heart, so we can live our life with joy!

Ann