Declarations of a Healthy Adulthood

This post is a copy of my now defunct Friendster blog. Friendster blog just isn't good, so I migrated all my posts from there to here.
For few-months-rests and come-backs, I am sharing with you (whoever you are, lost reader) this Declaration which I find – uhm – good for reflection. Much as I want to tell you my source, the best I can tell you is that I took this from the kit HAIN gave us during the RGS workshop held at Bohol Plaza Resort & Restaurant last July 4-7. HAIN stands for Health Action Information Network and RGS for Religion, Gender, & Sexuality Workshop. This declaration was part of the readings prepared by Fr. Euginius Cañete.

1. I accept full responsibility for the shape my life has taken.
2. I need never fear for my own truth, powers, fantasies, wishes, thoughts, sexuality, dreams, or ghosts.
3. I trust that “darkness and upheaval” always precede an expansion of consciousness.
4. I let people go away or stay and am still okay.
5. I accept that I may never feel, I am receiving, or have received all the attention I seek.
6. I acknowledge that reality is not obligated to me; it remains unaffected by my wishes or rights.
7. One by one, I drop every expectation of people and things.
8. I reconcile myself to the limits on others’ giving to me and on my giving to them.
9. Until I see another’s behavior with compassion, I have not understood it.
10. I let go of blame, regret, vengeance, and the infantile desire to punish those who hurt or reject me.
11. When change and growth scare me, I still choose them. I may act with fear, but never because of it.
12. I am still safe when I cease following the rules my parents (or others) set for me.
13. I cherish my own integrity and do not use it as a yardstick for anyone else’s behavior.
14. I am free to have and entertain any thought. I do not have the right to do whatever I want. I respect the limits of freedom and still act freely.
15. I overcome the urge to retreat on the brink of discovery.
16. No one can and needs to bail me out. I am not entitled to be taken care of by anyone or anything.
17. I give without demanding appreciation though I may always ask for it.
18. I reject whining and complaining as baseless distractions from direct action on or withdrawal from unacceptable situations.
19. I let go of control without losing control.
20. Choices and perceptions in my life are flexible, nor rigid or absolute.
21. If people knew me as I really am, they would love me for being human like them.
22. I drop poses and let my every word and deed reveal what I am really like.
23. Changes and transitions are more graceful as I cooperate with them.
24. Every human power is accessible to me.
25. I live by personal standards and at the same time – self forgiveness – I make allowances for my occasional lapses.
26. I grant myself a margin of error in my work and relationships. I release myself from the pain of having to be right or competent all the time.
27. I accept that it is normal to feel that I do not always measure up.
28. I am ultimately adequate to meet any challenge that comes to me.
29. My self-acceptance is not complacency since it represents an enormous change.
30. I am happy as I do what I love and love what is.
31. Wholehearted engagement with the circumstances releases my irrepressible liveliness.
32. I live unconditionally and set same conditions on my self-giving.