What a relief! I don’t have to give up my basic self. I simply have to change my responses. “Emotional Agility” one of the articles in ON EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE is as kind as Sylvia Boorstein.

“The opposite of control is acceptance – not acting on every thought or resigning yourself to negativity but responding to your ideas and emotions with an open attitude, paying attention to them and letting yourself experience them.”

No religious violence to self. No running away.
“Here I am”
“It is the response to the challenge to acknowledge the truth of the present moment, to recognize what needs to be done, and to be prepared to do it.” (Sylvia Boorstein)

Alleluia! I can be myself.