Only You Know Where Your Lines Are

That’s good – knowing your lines empowers you.Photo by Erin Larson on Unsplash

Everyone has limits of their own making. Lines in the sand that they cannot or will not cross.

Some of these are utterly conscious and handpicked. Others are subconscious and not necessarily desirable. Yet, either way, only you know where your lines are.

There are many things in your life that you can apply lines to. Often, people cede many of them because they worry about the impression drawing lines will make on friends, loved ones, and even complete strangers. Yet, no matter who you are, you know where your lines are.

When you don’t set them, when you allow others to cross them or ignore them, you rob yourself not just of your empowerment. Worse, you lessen your peace of mind, contentment, and even your personal sovereignty.

This might beg an important question:

How can you know where your lines are?

This is a matter of active conscious awareness. Mindfulness, of course. When you are striving to be present, awake, and aware here and now, you know your lines and where they are.

Or, if you find that you don’t know where they are, now you’ve opened yourself to choose them, make them, set them, draw them, or some combination therein.

This is a matter of being present, here and now, and aware of who, what, where, how, and why you are. That begins by exploring and learning what you’re thinking, what and how you’re feeling, what your intentions are, if your approach is positive or negative, and what you are or aren’t doing.

You, and only you, can choose your thoughts, feelings, intentions, approach, and actions. Nobody else can choose or decide what they are for you. Even when you are not using active conscious awareness to be mindful of choices and decisions, or ceding them to others, you are the one doing it.

Nobody but you is in your head, heart, and soul. Ergo, you’re the only one who can think, feel, act, etc. And this only works in the present, here and now.

The past has come and gone and can’t be changed. The future can and will be impacted by variables you can’t predict or control until they occur.

But, all that said, ultimately, you can choose where and what your lines are.

Boundaries and other examples

Some of the lines you set are not just for you, but for people you interact with. Others, however, might be purely for you.

For example, boundaries. When it comes to who you allow in your personal space, what that looks look, touch or no touch, and so on – that’s a line you set. Any lines in this realm are yours to create, though whether they’ll be respected by those you share them with or ask to respect is another matter.

That’s because you don’t control anyone else.

You can also set lines for boundaries for yourself. For example, how much time you allow yourself to surf social media, when you eat or drink things, self-imposed curfews, deadlines, restrictions, and so on.

Right now, because of the madness in the world regarding politics and the utter cruelty of many so-called leaders, I’ve moved my lines regarding how much time I spend on social media. Too much time there tends to make me angry, distressed, and negative. That, in turn, makes it harder for me to work, to improve, to help others, and not just walk away/ give up.

So, I draw new lines for myself. And when I cross them, I recognize, acknowledge, then let it go – or – I redraw the lines as necessary. Yes, sometimes I get irked with myself, but since that doesn’t help me in any way, I strive not to default to that.

Photo by Duncan Kyhl on UnsplashNobody can tell you who, what, where, how, or why you are

I recognize that some people come from far more difficult circumstances than others. Also, I have a degree of privilege that makes my life experience different from lots of other people in the world.

There are multiple groups in the world today who will tell you who, what, where, how, and why you should be. Yet, no matter who you are, the truth is the same. Only you can determine these things about yourself.

Also, some of those people will be forceful, violent, and distressing on many levels. That doesn’t give them the right to force you into being someone you’re not. Ultimately, you are you, and you choose what lines you draw on the mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical levels. You decide what’s best for your health, wellness, and wellbeing.

This is increasingly difficult in a world where you’re discouraged from being awake and aware, or “woke”, and where empathy, kindness, compassion, and caring for others are dismissed as “weak” or otherwise undesirable. Yet it remains true.

Your lines are yours to make, set, and change. And that’s one of your superpowers. Don’t hesitate to make the most of it.

Recognizing your lines and where they are isn’t hard

It’s all about practicing active conscious awareness of your thoughts, feelings, intentions, and approach to direct your actions.

When you recognize and acknowledge that you can choose what, where, how, and why your lines in life are, you can use that to alter your mood, your approach, and find more balance in life. Knowing that this is something you can totally control for yourself, you can make use of this to decide what and who impacts you, and change/alter/redraw the lines you make and set.

This empowers you, and your empowerment can empower others around you.

Consciously choosing your approach to life towards positivity or negativity – from the vast cylinder that exists between them – shifts life in a way that opens greater dialogue. From that broader dialogue, you can recognize, explore, and share where you are between the extremes and how that impacts you here and now.

Choosing thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions for yourself employs an approach and attitude of positivity for realizing amazing potential and possibilities for your life.

The better aware you are of yourself here and now, the better you can choose and decide what, how, and why your life experiences will be. When you empower yourself, that can spread to those around you for their empowerment.

Thank you for coming along on this journey.

This is the five-hundred-and-ninety-fifth (595) entry of my Positivity series. I hope that these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, reblog, and spread the positivity.

Please visit here to explore all my published fiction and non-fiction.

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