Codependent No More
How others act does not need to affect how we think or act. There is a difference between letting the reactions of others take over our life and respecting others' opinions while maintaining our own perspective and integrity. Letting someone else decide who we will be, how we will act, and what we will feel implies that we have given up our own life in exchange for whatever the other person wants us to be. When we adopt opinions that aren't consistent with our personal values, we are not living our own lives. We are not free. Even our Higher Power can't do much with us until we have detached. We have to detach from others in order to attach ourselves to God! If we're focusing all our energies on people and problems we have little left for the business of living our own lives. Worrying and obsessing keep us so tangled in our heads we can't solve our problems. Whenever we become attached in these ways to someone or something, we become detached...