M>  It does make sense - especially the part about not expecting yourself
 >  to be perfect.  Lately I've had some pretty high expectations (again!)
 >  for myself and others.  And (AGAIN!) it is not working well.
Sorry to hear that, Matrika! I have lousy days too. During the down times I
try to remind myself that this is a spritual journey, and a process. As much
as I want it to, changes simply don't happen overnight. One thing that has
helped me is to reach out to others in sharing.
My dad used to tell me that "No man is an island." I never really understood
what he meant by this until relatively recently. Now I am struggling
(imperfectly but hopefully making progress) to live with this in mind.
Regarding your comments about expecting so much from yourself and others...
I don't know if it is this way with you or not, but I tend to forgive others 

lot sooner than I forgive myself.
And sometimes when I realize that I'm beating up on myself, I stop and ask
myself...
"Hey! If someone else had done this same thing, and came to you and said they
were sorry, would you forgive them?"
And usually my answer is "Yes!"
"Then", I tell myself, "Treat yourself with the same amount of consideration
that you give others!"
And surprisingly, this somewhat schizophrenic dialog  helps to put
things in perspective and realize it's OK to forgive myself.
Take care, Matrika. I hope you write soon!
PS - I don't think Matrika is your real name. And I think I know who you are!
     
 -- SPEED 2.00 [NR]: Genius is perseverence in disguise.
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