We have to deal with a lot of people in life. Most of those people are frustrating from time to time. Then there are those that really get on our nerves. But there’s that one person that always seems to make life tough.
We need to forgive them.
A Revisited Hug
As I was working on another post this morning, I ran across an old post called An Unexpected Hug. It was a post where I wrote about my son Evan and the challenges we both had working through his anger.
At this particular time, he was acting up. Normally this would lead to confrontation, but as he started acting up, I just sat there, frustrated. He had been doing so well but then this outburst.
That’s when I realized he had been doing well. For quite awhile. I realized that there was a lot to praise him for – so I did. I reminded him how well he had been doing up until now. And it took him by surprise and disarmed him. It ended with him melting into me in an emotional hug and a day full of fun and adventure.
But it was this segment that caught my attention:
Setting boundaries and sticking to those boundaries are things we have to do as parents. Letting kids get away with bad behavior doesn’t help them any more than it helps us. But even more, sometimes we need to show them the good they have in them. In fact, we need to show them how they are succeeding more than how they are failing. Wouldn’t it be nice if people did that with us!
Wouldn’t it be nice! Wouldn’t it be nice if people looked past the mistakes we made and still loved us. Wouldn’t it be nice if people saw us for our accomplishments instead of our failures. Wouldn’t it be nice if people hugged us when we really needed a hug instead of when we were easy to hug. Wouldn’t it be nice?
What’s Stopping You?
So why not do that for yourself? Why not tell yourself how wonderful you are? Why not give yourself a pat on the back for your accomplishments? Why not love yourself?
After all, if you’re like the rest of us, we are the ones who frustrate ourselves the most. We do things we hate. We struggle to break old habits and are challenged to create good ones. We fail and we fail miserably. And we are so mean to ourselves when we do. Is there anyone in this world we talk as poorly to as we do to ourselves?
So maybe it’s time to forgive yourself. Maybe it’s time to show yourself you matter. Maybe it’s time to cut yourself some slack. Maybe it’s time to say you are amazing.
Wouldn’t it be nice if people did that to us? They often do. Wouldn’t it be nice if we did that for ourselves? Why not do it right now?
