Corking the Bottle

I once associated loving myself with narcism. Feeling humble seemed the opposite of loving me. Instead, I have learned that loving myself has to come before loving anyone else. I can't give away what I don't have. Poor self-image is one of those character defects that leads to drinking and alcoholism. From The Feeling Good Handbook by David Burns (https://feelinggood.com/ ): "But changing the way you feel is only one of our goals. The other goal is self-acceptance. I want you to learn to accept and love yourself as a flawed and imperfect human. I want you to accept your strengths as well as your weaknesses without a sense of shame or embarrassment." And this from Conversations With God by Neale Donald Walsch ( http://www.nealedonaldwalsch.com/ ) : "You must see your Self as worthy before you can see another as worthy. You must first see your Self as blessed before you can see another as blessed. You must first know your Self to be holy before you can ack...

I am reading Conversations With God by Neale Donald Walsh ( http://www.nealedonaldwalsch.com/ ). He writes as if he were asking God questions about living and being and then he answers them. Some of what "God" says fits my beliefs, some I don't understand, and some I reject. A.A. has taught me to respect the beliefs of others when I don't agree. We all have a right to be wrong. Including me. One part of the book speaks out to me, given I just lost my father-in-law after his long stretch of discomfort, pain, and dementia. The God in the book tells Walsh: "The entire medical profession is trained to keep people alive, rather than keeping people comfortable so they can die with dignity. "You see, to a doctor or nurse death is a failure,,,, Only to the soul is death a relief -- a release. "The greatest gift you can give the dying is to let them die in peace -- not thinking they must 'hang on,' or continue to suffer, or worry about you at ...