I do not have to accept a gift of guilt or anger.

We’d have no trouble saying “NO!” if someone offers us a birthday gift of poisonous snakes but it’s sometimes harder to decline gifts of feelings that other people try to give us. Learning which gifts to accept and which to refuse requires emotional and spiritual maturity.

We cannot begin to control other people but we can take care of our self. We can do spiritual maintenance in the morning and throughout the day instead of thinking about doing it. This imparts wisdom and power that helps us choose not to accept gifts that may harm us.  If someone tries to make us feel guilty, we pause, pray, and picture them handing us a gift-wrapped box full of stinky guilt; we politely decline to accept it and handle the situation with dignity, self-respect and integrity.  We can also refuse gifts of anger, remorse, envy or any feelings of misery; we can choose to accept only those gifts that are beneficial, that contribute to our physical, mental, spiritual, or emotional well being.

Prayer: Dear God, remind me not to accept gifts from other people that lessen my day. Help me have an instant awareness when I start to accept feelings that do not reflect my worth and stature as a child of the divine; grant me the peace and integrity to lovingly refuse un-beneficial gifts. It is my will that your will be done.

 Take three relaxing breaths; ask your inner spirit to guide your meditation; reflect on the content, pausing for a few minutes in silence.