It is perfectly reasonable to protect ourselves and our minds from all forms of emotional and physical abuse. No fear from any amount of retaliation for doing so need stop us from taking proper action

My vision of a beautiful heart has heaps of hope, trust, love, and belief.

To protect this vision is to protect my innermost self. I cannot think of anything or anyone at this point in my life more important.

Just sucks that we live in a world that needs protection from others, their behaviors, and actions, but alas we do.

Sucks further to realize that actions and behaviors of my own have in the past hurt others, and even in the future, I could likely hurt someone without my even being cognizant.

The best we all can do is to treat ourselves with the love and care that one needs to thrive, and to offer much of the same to those near and far from us.

Being accountable means standing up and saying Yes I did such and such - or I said such and such - not followed by a myriad of reasons which outline others' ownership.

Often there are reasons ... no, usually, there are reasons for the ways in which we react and behave - but pointing them out, I've learned is less for me to explain than it is for others to discover.

The last time I reacted badly to an assault, I tried desperately to get the person to understand my reasoning. But if you want understanding and it goes anything like... "You did such and such and it made me feel literally sick, and I just couldn't face being here again"... Yeah, I guarantee that's not going to go over well.

It is for me to become the best I can be, and for others to decide what it is that they do. And like I always say, it's all about intention, anyway. I love intention. Intention is authentic.

If someone you love or tried to love just cannot grasp intention, the loving thing to do for the both of you is to move on, removing yourself totally from that situation.

For the rest of my life when I find myself in a situation which is difficult or uncomfortable because of the actions of others, I am going to remove myself from the situation without fear that the "other or others" will be insulted or that they will accuse me of being unreasonable.

Trust your gut.

It is perfectly reasonable to protect ourselves and our minds from all forms of emotional and physical abuse. No fear from any amount of retaliation for doing so need stop us from taking proper action.

Growing up in an abusive and neglectful family, you are taught to take it and not complain - then when you become an adult there is something about you that gives off signals to yet greater numbers of abusive people that say it's okay for them to behave abusively with you. That's not alright.

Other than a lack of proper boundaries, I don't know yet what that something is, only it has something to do with being nice - having kindness taken for weakness, but it has to be more than that. One of my favorite things in life (generosity), is often taken for stupidity. Somehow all this snowballs to a kind of low self esteem, a less than feeling that resonates.  Maybe it's a body posture that puts out that permission - I don't know, but I sure mean to find out. It just might be the last part of the puzzle for me.

In the meantime, let's all keep up our self love and self care as we increase this awareness and evolution, all the while, being kind to ourselves and others.