In what ways has my thinking disturbed my peace?
I think a more accurate version of this is "in what ways hasn't your thinking disturbed your peace?" The list is far shorter, almost nonexistent.
I have a nasty tendency of taking innocuous things personally. Even if it was meant as a joke or had nothing whatsoever to do with me, I take it personally. I would better keep my peace with a healthy reaction.
I get sad and angry over things that I have no control over. Like when middle sister went to jail, I blamed myself for not raising her correctly (yeah, because that 2.5 years means I can mother her well.) Or when my mother needs a med change and won't ask the doc about it. Or idiots in traffic.
I am very hard on myself. If it's not perfect, it's something to stew on and worry over or rage over.
I get anxious and worry over things that don't deserve my time or energy or that I can't fix. (This has gotten better by cutting sulfites from my diet.) I worry over my mother, when she's been doing well. I worry over my car, and that cosmetic damage. I worry over money, even when there's enough coming in (it's especially hard when I'm unemployed.) I'm anxious in traffic, because I can't control the idiots around me. On especially bad days, I worry about my husband, his entire family, all my friends, my sponsor, just up and abandoning me.
I know my fears of abandonment come from actually being temporarily abandoned, repeatedly, by my mother. She'd decide life is too hard or her emotions were too complicated or something, and just drive off. Yes, I'd be safe with someone (as a kid, as a teenager, I was the safe one for my sisters), but to see my mother just walk or drive off, without saying good bye or even saying she'd be back, scared (and scarred) me. We never even knew where she was going or if she'd be back. One minute she was there, the next, she was crying and walking out the door. After she attempted suicide on one of those outings, I worried all the more. There were times I wished she wouldn't come back, then I'd heap blame and shame on myself for those thoughts. "She is my mother!" I'd chide myself, "I hafta love her and want her." There are times that I wonder if her taking us storm chasing was actually self destructive behavior that endangered us kids or if it was a form of running away. I know the winter in Pennsylvania with her pen pal was running away. I later found out that she didn't tell Dad until either we were gone or until we got back. There are some memories there I need to uncover.
How does Step 2 help me find peace in stressful situations?
Just reminding myself that I don't hafta face this alone helps. Knowing that there is someone out there who knows all of my past, all of my secrets, and all of everything, and still loves me and won't leave me (well, it hasn't yet) is a scary and empowering thought. Just the idea of, even if everything goes to hell, I have something to fall back on, helps me stay sane. There is an image of myself in an exoskeleton, where the exoskeleton is the Great Divine, that helps me realize that even if I don't have the strength, the Great Divine does.
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