At some point in our lives we all need to “face our souls,” and do the inner work on ourselves in order to heal and transform. And one of the most important aspects in our healing is learning to create and maintain healthy boundaries. Boundaries empower us by letting others know what works for us and what doesn’t, helping us to protect our personal space and energy. And, if you’ve had boundary issues with members of your family, you most likely have similar issues in your personal relationships, now as a grown up adult. For example, in needy, co-dependent relationships there are no healthy boundaries. The individual’s boundaries are removed, leaving them to sacrifice their own identity to get the external love and affection they crave by meeting the needs and expectations of another. When you sacrifice your identity to meet the expectations of another, you lose your sense of self along with your self-esteem. Today, as we head to a New Moon tomorrow, take some time to see where you have allowed your boundaries to be broken or perhaps in some cases to have disappeared. Today, begin to recognize and acknowledge that when you set healthy boundaries, you don’t just empower yourself, you may also empower others in your life to take responsibility for themselves and start resolving their own problems and issues.

When you stop rescuing, you help them access their own inner strengths, helping them move toward realizing their own potential. Otherwise they will continuously look for answers and solutions outside of themselves, always feeling needy, incapable, and powerless. Today, set your intentions to say no when you mean no, to let go of the need to please and make everyone happy at your own expense and begin to break your patterns of rescuing others to make yourself feel good. Today recognize that setting healthy boundaries empowers you, and hopefully will teach others in your life to do the same and learn how to take responsibility for themselves. Just remember, it’s not your job to do their work for them and it is not your job to make everything better, especially at your own expense. Today recognize that you yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.

Just for today, I respect my boundaries and I insist others do too. I am a master at setting healthy boundaries that protect my time, energy, creativity and emotional well being. I recognize that the only people who get upset with me setting healthy boundaries are the ones that are benefitting the most from me having none. I am safe. I love, honor and respect myself. All is truly well in my world. And so it is.