Dealing w/ toxic living situation

[Marie5890]

I find myself living in a toxic situation that, for the moment, I can’t get out of. So I am looking at it as sort of a “St.Paul in prison~~~What do I do until I am released”

Would love thoughts, insights, etc. I recently moved to an area where I haven’t been able to find a suitable spiritual director. Again, this sort of “prison” idea comes to mind with St Paul or John of the Cross.

I keep praying that God will, and He has, sanctified it in ways while I work on getting out of it.

It’s hard though. It’s hard not to become frustrated and even resentful.

 

[Catfish]

Perhaps God wants you to be there in that situation so that you might be an inspiration or “spiritual director” to others more in need than yourself.

 

[otjm]

Spiritual direction is important. And while it may take time to find a director, you still have friends and family, and may need to turn to them for moral and emotional support. Do not hesitate to use them; they may not be the best to unload upon with all the gory details, but knowing and hearing that you have support is important.

If you have health insurance, call the administrator and find out if it covers marital counseling (some do). Many times one may find that the diocese has a counseling group related to do the diocese, or they might be found under Catholic Family Counseling Services. And if they are not available, interview some counselors (some are secularists, and likely best avoided). There are also groups noted as Lutheran Family Counseling Services, and I have found some good ones there.

And if insurance does not cover it, inquire anyway as to their fee schedule, and if they will consider a reduced fee. Some do.

Having someone who is removed from the dynamics (dispassionate) and trained can be a tremendous help figuring out “What do I do and how do I do this?”

 

[metanoia1]

May you be filled with loving kindness. May you be well. May you be peaceful and at ease. May you be happy.

 

[midori]

During November and the Holy Souls, you get a bunch of articles about end-of-life stuff. I remember one article referencing Roger Ebert’s passing, and so I had read more about it–

The one thing people might be surprised about—Roger said that he didn’t know if he could believe in God. He had his doubts. But toward the end, something really interesting happened. That week before Roger passed away, I would see him and he would talk about having visited this other place. I thought he was hallucinating. I thought they were giving him too much medication. But the day before he passed away, he wrote me a note: “This is all an elaborate hoax.” I asked him, “What’s a hoax?” And he was talking about this world, this place. He said it was all an illusion. I thought he was just confused. But he was not confused. He wasn’t visiting heaven, not the way we think of heaven. He described it as a vastness that you can’t even imagine. It was a place where the past, present, and future were happening all at once.

And I thought that was a very interesting insight. We’re so bogged down with the minutiae of living life, that sometimes, it gets in the way of our eternity. But if you look at the minutiae of life as being a little bit less-real than eternity… it makes it easier to get through, if that makes sense. Because whatever obstacles and inconveniences we go through don’t really matter… because they’re not as real as true Reality. And so you still deal with those obstacles and inconveniences, but they affect you in a different kind of way.