Let your speech be always full of grace, seasoned with salt. ~ Colossians 4:6 Have you ever started an innocent conversation with someone only to have it disintegrate into anger or frustration? We sometimes try to pinpoint where it all went wrong; but a more useful starting point may be, “What can I do to prevent it?” Other than those lopsided encounters …
Power of Acceptance and Gratitude – Feel Freedom in Relationships
Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under a just God, cannot long retain it. ~ Abraham Lincoln: Letter to H.L. Pierce, April 6, 1859 Relationships are sometimes a quagmire of emotion, misunderstandings, and unmet expectations. Rather than feeling free and joyful, we often find ourselves feeling trapped and frustrated. I sometimes hear people lament, “I was …
Key Elements to Active Listening: Effective Communication
For when you come to think of it, the only way to love a person is not … to coddle them and bring them soup when they’re sick, but by listening to them and seeing and believing in the god, in the poet in them. ~ Brenda Ueland The first element of communication, speaking, is impossible without the second, listening; to be a …
Personal Integrity, By Definition
But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads? ~ Albert Camus Integrity is often defined in moral terms but we can also think of it as wholeness or oneness. In this sense, a person of integrity is one in his entire being: his thoughts, emotions, speech, actions and spirit are all in alignment. Many …
How to Create a Good Relationship
To create love: be true to yourself; know yourself and listen to what your partner is really saying; choose someone you’re attracted to, someone who fits you; know your role in the relationship; make a firm commitment and love actively. Chemistry It helps to be “into each other.” Ask yourself: is this person someone you really want to spend your time …
What is Marriage All About – Dangerous Ambivalence or Joyful Commitment?
Marriage is our last, best chance to grow up. ~ Joseph Barth Marriage brings great rewards of loving intimacy and heart-wrenching emotional turbulence. We frequently cope with this apparent conflict with ambivalence, which makes true joy in marriage impossible. Concerning love, you cannot be of two minds and yet hope to experience her riches. Time and again we discard commitment in …
Learning to Trust Others and Yourself
You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you don’t trust enough. ~ Frank Crane Trust has more to do with self confidence than with the behavior of others. We generally know what to expect from the people in our lives, so how they behave isn’t the real issue. The point we often ignore …
Learn to Listen Better
You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view–until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it. ~ Harper Lee “To Kill a Mockingbird” Good communication requires connection and understanding. To create that, we must not only speak effectively but also listen well. Poor communication begins by focusing single-mindedly on making our …
You CAN Change People – Myth?
Be the change you want to see in the world. ~ Mahatma Gandhi It’s a myth that we can’t change others. Within everyone’s soul is a great desire to create, to love and be loved, to relish life. As we embrace this passion we transform ourselves and thereby change others. Our every thought and action is like a fingerprint on the universe, …
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