Archive for November, 2009

November 5, 2009

She won’t let go…..

by Rod Smith

My ex-girlfriend won’t let go. We have been broken up for three years and had many conversations covering the reasons the relationship did not work. She continued to buy me clothes, make me food, send me cards, and try to see me for one last thing she needed to understand. I think I have been very patient but everything I say has to be broken down into precise meanings and explained to death. Here is the simple truth: I don’t want to be her boyfriend any longer and she doesn’t seem to get it. When I tell her I am free

A is Automony

She won't let go....

to be with anyone I choose and that I do not choose to be with her she wants me to explain how it could have been so good and then come to nothing. Please help. (Letter synthesized from several conversations)

Do not enter into any conversations in the attempt to explain yourself.
You will not end viral activity (she is not a virus, being “locked on” to you is evidence of an emotional virus) if you continue to feed or facilitate the virus in any manner. Change your phone numbers and your email address. Accept no more gifts of any sort – and return, unopened, gifts that arrive.

November 4, 2009

Ten, no 11, reminders for divorced “couples”:

by Rod Smith

TUYL

This is someone you once loved....

1. Your former spouse is a person whom you once loved.
2. Your former spouse has a family that was once also yours.
3. Your children will benefit from seeing that people who disagree are also able to work together.
4. It is possible to be cordial and cooperative even after a marriage has broken down, even after there has been infidelity, even after there have been cruel words spoken.
5. While the divorce is final and painful, the good memories remain good memories, the love once shared was once real.
6. Little is gained by speaking negatively of your former spouse or former in-laws.
7. Children will have a natural resistance to new partners, lovers, or spouses – to moving house or schools as a result of your decisions to divorce.
8. Using children as a means to getting what you need and want is hardly helpful to the well being of the children.
9. Having “adult” meetings – with all the adults present – to talk about co-parenting is probably a good idea.
10. It is possible to find joy and happiness even after divorce.
11. Sometimes (in response to trauma), life becomes a series of approximations, adaptations, of negotiated positions, which ultimately form into a renewed platform for a fulfilling life which, while within the immediate turmoil, no one can see or imagine.

November 3, 2009

Ten, no 12, things it has taken me years to learn:

by Rod Smith

TUYL

Anxiety will drive you if you allow it....

1. No one is all good; no one is all bad.
2. Even an ant, when looked at under a microscope, can look like a monster (Rabbi Ed Friedman).
3. Anxiety is more contagious than the common cold (Rabbi Ed Friedman).
4. Worry teaches me nothing that’s really worth learning.
5. The busiest people often get the least done.
6. Burnout is not the result of working too hard, too much, or of holding an “important position” but it is the result of not minding my own business or taking on other people’s unresolved issues.
7. I get another shot at (almost) everything.
8. Forgiving others is a hallmark of the presence of good mental health.
9. Miracles are in the eye of the beholder.
10. Helping people find their strengths is more helpful than helping them identify their weaknesses.
11. Life is beautiful and life is brutal all at the same time.
12. God is not innocent (which does not mean that God is guilty).