Personal Growth
Category
The Insatiable Demand For MORE…
There is a phase that suggests a subject: “The insatiable demand for more.” Who ever heard of anyone who was happy, who wouldn’t be satisfied? – who always had to have more and ever more – more thrills, more indulgence, more power, more possessions. Some over-indulge by trying to satisfy appetites that remain unsatisfied. Some make demands, and when their demands are met, make more demands.
Winners & Losers…
“Help me to seek not so much to be understood but to understand, to be loved but to love with all my soul.” (St. Francis of Assisi). How many people have lost their health, reputation, family, friends, values, and even their very souls for the sake of money? Is it worth it all?
Prescription For… The Heavyhearted
Sometimes we suffer the symptoms of diseases we don’t have. And sometimes we suffer the symptoms of unhappiness for insufficient reasons. Often unhappiness comes from overemphasizing the negative side of situations. This is easy to do, since time seems to move more swiftly when we are happy and more slowly when we are heavyhearted. And so we might suppose that we are unhappy more than we are.
Here I am – this is me…
“Openly revealing our feelings establishes credibility”. Gerry Spence. I learned a long time ago that I try to use in my daily life. To resolve conflict creatively we need not only to speak the truth in love, but also to listen with our heart. We need to be honest and share our true feelings – not just our surface feelings.
Saying… “I’m Sorry”
We sometimes assume that we have fully repented and made amends when we have said we are ‘sorry‘. But there is a side to being sorry that is more serious than mere polite apology. And there are circumstances in which much more than ‘casual regret’ is called for.
Pain Is Part Of Life…
“Pain and death are part of life. To reject them is to reject life itself.” – Havelock Ellis It’s very easy after suffering an incident that caused pain, to just give up and say we won’t ever go there again. Maybe it’s a relationship issue and we just want to crawl into an imaginary shell and hide from the world and the thought of any future romance in our lives.
When to Say It – & When to Be Silent
As was observed in Ecclesiastes 3: There is a “time to every purpose..” And there are times when some things should be said, and times to keep silent. There are times when we are tempted to make cutting comments, when the quality kindness (and good sense itself) would suggest that we keep silent.
The Place To Begin…
“The Past isn’t here to speak for itself, and hence gets a better reputation that it deserves.” Strange is this quality of human nature, which decrees that unless we feel a future before us we do not live completely in the present… (Human nature)…always must look forward.
Don’t Worry if You Have Problems
I know, I know…your first reaction would be; ‘IT IS EASY TO SAY UNTIL YOU ARE IN THE MIDST OF A REALLY BIG ONE’. But let’s face it, the only people I am aware of who don’t have troubles are the ones who are dead – it’s as simple as that! If you’re breathing, you will always have some form of difficulties and troubles. It’s the way of life. And believe it or not, most of your problems may actually be good for you! Allow me to explain.
Endure… For Days of Happiness
There is a short sentence from Vergil that says: …. “Endure, and keep yourselves for days of happiness.”
“Don’t worry, be happy”
ONE time while driving to the province with my nephews and nieces who were then still small, we happened to follow a tricycle carrying two pigs. I didn’t give it much thought until one of my nieces said: “Hey look how good the owner is to take his pigs around for a ride and for sightseeing!” That very moment, I realized how “adult” I had become, seeing those pigs as nothing but dead meat, while my niece saw in them live tourists! I saw the owner as an impersonal user, while my niece saw him as a thoughtful father. We both saw the same reality, but we had two entirely different perceptions!
Butterflies are FREE!!!
FEW sights are lovelier than a multicolored butterfly fluttering in nature’s garden. Butterflies are not only pretty but also have the enviable ability to fly from beautiful rose to sweet gardenia, skipping the unruly weeds in between, unmindful of the ugly caterpillar crawling up on the rose’s thorny stem. It’s a pretty sight, a real tonic to tired eyes and perhaps to an even more weary soul. It is so pretty we cannot help but pity the caterpillar that is not only as ugly as the butterfly is beautiful but also as slow and tied to the ground as the butterfly is fast and free. Indeed, at first glance, we see the butterfly and the caterpillar as two different creatures.
Lying…
With all the lying going around, please remind our children that it is still a sin to tell a lie! Please tell and retell to your children the message that lying is bad, and that to prevent others to tell the truth is also very bad! These are the exact words of Jose Rizal (Philippines National Hero) in regard to this tendency of religious observers (from Rizal’s “The State of Religiosity in the Philippines”).
Acting with Integrity
Many people have the perception that the fabulously rich and powerful are dishonest and unethical. And who can blame them after hearing stories of how millionaire executives rip off their shareholders in scandal after scandal? Certainly there are unethical & unscrupulous rich people around especially where I was born and where I have been living for the last 30 years (I better not mention the location…hehehehe). Incidentally, their wealth & businesses rarely last, but the truth is that most self-made millionaires share a common habit of personal integrity.