Poor Walter's Almanac

Our thoughts create our reality. Our fears generate our failures. Our love can move mountains.
Best we choose our thoughts wisely.

Many of us don't set and maintain boundaries with abusive people in our lives because we fear that rather than cooperate with what we are asking of them, they will choose to end the relationship, which then brings up issues of abandonment within us which generates anxiety and perhaps depression as well which we fear we will not be able to deal with. Consequently, the abuse continues, our emotional needs continue to be unmet, and we experience ongoing anger, resentment, and dissatisfaction.

We terrorize ourselves with our fear thoughts. We exaggerate them and build on them to the point of actually believing they're likely to happen (which they usually aren't) and then we react with intense fear, panic, desperation, demoralization, etc. in anticipation of them happening. Best not to react to terrible things until they are actually happening. Prepare for the worst but don't live in perpetual daily dread of the future. Be here now. Find happiness today despite life's difficulties.

Many of us do not have a solid sense of self, such that when the world smiles at us we feel good, when the world frowns at us we feel bad. This makes us victims of the external world. This puts our personal power in the hands of others rather than in our own hands where it belongs. Best we not let undue praise or criticism fool us, diminish us or get in the way of us feeling good about ourselves. Regardless of other people's opinions and attitudes towards us, we know who we are.

A number of people have challenged the idea of extending love to toxic people, narcissists, etc, claiming that these people can't change and you're only inviting more toxicity and pain. Let me clarify that we extend love to others, we forgive others, not to change them but to free ourselves from the emotional bondage that goes with hanging onto anger, resentments, grievances, etc. We forgive others for our own peace of mind. It doesn't mean we have to hang around them, tolerate them, or have them in our lives to any degree. Extending love to others can be a very transformative experience for all concerned. But the bottom line is this: Our happiness, our inner peace are a consequence of the choices we make. And one of those choices is to do the best we can to forgive, love and accept others unconditionally and despite how they are behaving. It's a tall order. It's something we should aspire to. It is the formula for inner peace and... eventually.... world peace.

Let me clarify that complaining has its place. It has its purpose. It has value. However, many of us complain to a much greater degree than is necessary or helpful. It becomes our default response to difficult people and circumstances in our lives, to the point where there is barely anything else we talk about. When this happens and complaining becomes a never-ending story with us, we become very negative and unpleasant to be around. We become emotionally abusive. Not healthy for us. Not healthy for our relationships. Best we use complaining as a steppingstone to action, and not simply an opportunity to vent our frustration and vomit our rage all over those we come in contact with.

Letting go of baggage is a choice. First, you choose to recognize your baggage rather than be in denial about it. Second, you choose to recognize that you have the power to let go of your baggage and make better choices. Third, you make better choices. Fourth, you repeatedly, consistently, persistently make those better choices until you have extinguished your self-destructive self-definitions and replaced them with healthier ones.

Denial is a unconscious psychological device that people use to avoid dealing with reality, to avoid dealing with facts about themselves that they prefer not to look at or acknowledge. The problem is that when the things we are denying are true they are usually things that are self-sabotaging and get in the way of our happiness, health, relationship success and material success. We need the courage to look at our flaws and our mistakes honestly so that we can change our behaviors and become more effective in all aspects of our lives.

Riffing about gun violence, Cary Grant and why we are here.

Our thoughts create our reality. Our subconscious thoughts are the prime movers of our reality manifestation. To avoid victimhood and failure, and to harness the Law of Attraction in the best possible way, it's best that we program both our subconscious mind and our conscious mind for success, that we pay attention to our environment, that we are vigilant over our thoughts and that we maintain a positive attitude.