Love yourself enough to set boundaries. Your time and energy are precious. You get to choose how you use it. You teach people how to treat you by deciding what you will and won’t accept. Anna Taylor
Meditation: When we grow up in families or environments that do not teach us how to set boundaries, we do not learn the important value of self-respect. Many enmeshed family systems do not allow individuals to have boundaries, to say “no”, to be different or to seek distance at times. All of those abilities are part of individuating from the family of origin and of becoming one’s own person. Self-respect begins with the permission to set boundaries, to make choices even if the rest of the group does not like the choice. “I will not let you treat me this way” is a sentence some of us learned to say late in life. But it is never too late to practice setting boundaries and deciding that certain people or behaviors are unacceptable or toxic. We are the temple of God. We decide what is healthy, holy and good for us. God’s Spirit gives us permission to say “No”.
Prayer: God, You empower us to become our own person. You free us from oppression and group pressure. You help us refuse being exploited, manipulated or used by others as You strengthen our sense of value and worth. Because You and Your Spirit live in us, we can ask for respect. We can even demand respect. We walk away from those who disrespect us or who want to destroy or abuse us. And we are grateful. Amen
Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are. 1. Corinthians 3:16-17
Watchwords 