Act or React?

"It’s a done deal! Today, I offer myself a loving life respectful of my basic needs in terms of love and emotional security, but also material."

Who has never taken such a resolution? Who has never vowed this promise? Then an external element manifests itself and we fall back into our old behaviors while the commitment to ourselves falls into the oblivion of our inner fortress.
I remember an umpteenth argument with an ex-companion, after which I had made the umpteenth decision to be totally devoted to listening to my basic needs. The guy came to apologize, once again. My first instinct was to answer him, but I choose this time to curb my impulsivity and rather than react, I paused and looked with curiosity at what was happening in me. The strong emotion of anger roared and not wanting to let it direct my life, I had to manage it differently than by going up into the towers. I then remembered a friend who had once proposed me: "And if you welcomed emotion without judging it?" This is what I did that day and I discovered that beyond anger, I was living in my depth an extraordinary adventure.

Since that day, I have often tried – and almost as often forgot – to act rather than react. The line between the two can sometimes seem thin and subtle, but if we take the time to sit down and observe what is happening in us, we then become more actor of our existence and we gradually stop suffering what is no longer suitable for us.

The more we hurry, the more we lose ourselves.