इ ऍम इम्पोर्तंत !

I AM IMPORTANT!
I can well remember the first meeting I had with a recovery professional back in 1994.
He asked me about myself, and I quickly gave him a list of my personal, athletic, business and community volunteer leadership roles. Man, I was important!
I was quickly told that I was self centered and had an ego as big as Ontario (truly I had no self-esteem left). I had a need to be right and was very sensitive to criticism. Can you relate?
Call it self importance, call it ego, call it false pride; I have now accepted the defects I have, who I am and can handle criticism when it is merited and take responsibility for my own mistakes. (I certainly have not become a doormat).
Self importance certainly delayed my start to a life transformation and journey of life recovery.
From Hazelden:
Self importance is our greatest enemy. Think about it - what weakens us is feeling offended by the deeds and misdeeds of our fellowmen. Our self importance requires that we spend most of our lives offended by someone.
--Carlos Castaneda

“Were we offended by someone yesterday? Do we harbour resentment for remarks, oversights, or unpleasant mannerisms? Do we feel tense or uneasy about how someone else has treated us? We can probably make a good case to justify our reactions. Perhaps we are in the right and they are in the wrong.

Yet, even if we are justified, it doesn't matter. We may be puffing ourselves up and wasting energy. When we are oversensitive, we take a self-righteous position which leads us far from our path of spiritual awakening. Our strength is diminished.

How much better it is to let go of the lightness, let go of our grandiosity, and accept the imperfections in others. We need to accept our own imperfections too. When we do, we are better for it, and our strength and energy can be focused on richer goals.

I will accept others' imperfections; I do not need to be right. “
Appreciate that self importance is holding you back in having the life you want? If we can help you to develop an action plan with realistic goals, please contact through www.hopeserenity.ca.