The power of acknowlegement

[amastie]

I write this after someone said to me "I've surmised that you've had a very difficult life."

I have become *so* unused to having my life seen as a challenge faced rather than a life lost that to have my effort acknowledged left me stunned and I'm still brought undone (in a good way) by that. Indeed, the challenge which I am brought to see increasingly is the challenge that I present to *others*, how hard it is for *others*, especially those close to me. And I agree, it is hard to live close to someone with ongoing emotional/mental illness, but it seems that my own effort goes (increasingly) unseen.

That acknowlegement made me want to open the door here for others to feel what I felt, and to see opportunities to recognize in ourselves the *real* strength that it takes to live a life of challenge, often the most debilitating and the most ominous of challenges. We have much reason to take a moment to feel our own strength and our value.

amastie

 

[white page]

We have much reason to take a moment to feel our own strength and our value.

Amastie,
How very important it is , what you have posted here .
The first acknowledgement we owe ourselves is the one of our distress and pain , the second is that we can do something about it , thirdly that it takes courage to face up to our issues and take our lives back into our own hands.

When the difficult voyage that we have taken and we are still on ,is acknowledged by a third party then that can certainly stun us .

Some one very recently , suggested that it is at times very suprising to write about ones life in the third person . " For instance Amastie is a truly caring and generous person , ready to comfort and empathise with persons in distress , she also has a suberbe way with the written word . "
it is easier than saying I am etc.
Try it Amastie , it is a good exercise to do , and an eyeopener to our own heroic lives which go unoticed by ourselves . as you so rightly say .

 

[Into The Light]

acknowledgment is so very important to get because it is so incredibly healing. i am so glad for you that someone gave you that acknowledgment.

you really made me think when you said it is not a life that you have lost, but rather you have a life with challenges. i have met people with physical or mental difficulties and tend to feel sorry or sad for them, because as you say it is easy to think that this person has lost a life the way it should have been for them. i suppose i think of how i would feel if it were me in their shoes and i would feel loss.

i'm not really sure what my point is. i guess i am trying to say you've really got me thinking.

 

[Jazzey]

:agree: - you always have me thinking Amastie. That's why I enjoy you and your posts so much. You have a depth to you, that I would suggest you have precisely because of who you've become through your life's experiences. And I feel your *strength* in every one of your posts. While we may not like our respective life circumstances - I agree, we can love who we've become as a result. Tough to do on some days - but a little acknowledgement goes a long way. That's what you do every time you respond to a post Amastie. :hug:

WP:

Try it Amastie , it is a good exercise to do , and an eyeopener to our own heroic lives which go unoticed by ourselves . as you so rightly say .

"Amastie is a truly compassionate person who's words always give me strength and touch me"

 

[amastie]

...it is a good exercise to do , and an eyeopener to our own heroic lives which go unoticed by ourselves

Yes :hug:

amastie added 5 Minutes and 33 Seconds later...

acknowledgment is so very important to get because it is so incredibly healing....

Yes :hug:

.. got me thinking.

And by the acknowledgment I received, as much as it left me stunned, later it also left me thinking

We really do share a great deal when we share the sense of struggle and achievment in small steps in the midst of difficulties that, if someone hasn't had to deal with it, cannot know how much real strength it takes, I think.

Take *very* good care ITL

 

[amastie]

...but a little acknowledgement goes a long way...

*You* would know

..Amastie is ..

someone who revels in the kindess, the wisdom, the insight, the strength, the golden spirit and the huge heart of ...guess who?

Mmmm... let me think....
Mmmm... could it be Jazzey *and* WP *and* ITL *and*.. (but why should I bore you with the list) :teehee:

 

[Jazzey]

:hug: :hug: :airkiss: - to all of you.

 

[Sparrow]

Amastie,

Your thread is thoughtful and insightful and all the while heartwarming.
It makes me think of how some of us may discount ourselves.

I can be "guilty" of this from time to time. Self-esteem does not play into it when I am terra firma and yet, so perplexed though . Akin to yearning validation and redemption like a blind man on a dark night looking for a lighthouse, while it was all around me to begin with in the first place.

Your acknowledgment is very much a precursor to... :heart:acceptance.
And life is a work in progress.

:budgie:

 

[amastie]

Sparrow, I open my hands and my :heart:...
acceptance