Posts Tagged ‘relationships’
I do not have to accept a gift of guilt or anger.
We’d have no trouble saying “NO!” if someone offers us a birthday gift of poisonous snakes but it’s sometimes harder to decline gifts of feelings that other people try to give us. Learning which gifts to accept and which to refuse requires emotional and spiritual maturity. We cannot begin to control other people but we…
Read MoreActions—not intentions or promises—produce results
Three frogs are sitting on a log and one decides to jump in the water. How many frogs are left on the log? Of course, three frogs are still on the log. Making a decision to jump in the water is not the same as jumping in the water. Action—the actual ‘doing’, the implementation of…
Read MoreCarrying rocks in your pocket adds burden to your journey
It’s just common sense: if you keep adding rocks in your pocket, the extra weight makes walking difficult and sooner or later, something has to give. You don’t see adults with a pocket full of rocks but yet, quite a few carry the weight of resentments, guilt, remorse or shame as a daily burden. Everyone…
Read MoreDifficult people and situations are part of life; whether I see them as villains or opportunities determines their power over me.
Life teaches us that acquiring certain virtues will improve our life; we may develop a sincere desire to be more patient or tolerant; we may seek and pray for these attributes. But the only way to acquire any desirable trait is through encountering people who cause us contention and frustration. Learning patience requires experiencing situations…
Read MoreAt any moment, life can throw a mud ball at me.
Life happens. We can be enjoying life or just getting by; then, something unexpected hits us. We get bad news; someone rejects us or something totally unfair or unreasonable happens. Do we give situations, events, or other people the power to determine the quality of our day? Of our week? Of our life? If we…
Read MoreIt’s hard to balance on a two-legged stool
You never see a two-legged stool. It takes three legs to provide stable and dependable support. Our life journey is similar. Using just the physical and mental aspects of our lives is like to trying to sit on a two-legged stool—we achieve a short-term balance; then, the slightest disruption starts that uncertain wobbling once again.…
Read MoreHappiness and peace are impossible without integrity
INTEGRITY (noun): the quality or condition of being sound; of being un-impaired, undivided, complete, or whole. We are either whole or we have a hole—an inner void. Many people feel this hole, this inner void, like something is missing. We try to fill it with answers taught us and sold to us by other less-than-whole…
Read MoreAcceptance is an essential tool for a peaceful life; however acceptance occurs in stages.
If I keep running headfirst into a brick wall and it always bloodies my head, I can deny that I’m hitting the wall or deny that it’s hurting me (denying the fact of reality); but then, this leads to repeating the same action and suffering the same result. If I want to quit hurting, I…
Read MoreI will live every day until I die; will I settle for mediocrity or reach for happiness and joy?
Some will Say “Duh–that’s dumb. Of course I’m going to live every day until I die. “But what about today, this little 24 hour time period right now? Am I really going to live it or just slide through it? Will I gain a single thing from this day that makes it worth the time…
Read MoreI sometimes take the people closest to me for granted
and fail to extend the respect, courtesy, and love I feel for them. I need to treat the people I love and value as well as I treat co-workers, friends, and casual acquaintances. Without attention and awareness, close relationships can suffer from familiarity—that attitude of quiet indifference. We expect people to know that they are…
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