Three areas of life in which we get very little training, yet we all seem to have an opinion on: marriage, parenting and money. When all is said and done, it really is much simpler to succeed than to fail. Two As for improving your marriage: Awareness and Anticipation. Awareness of how you are feeling - Anticipation of how your spouse might be feeling. Todays choices are tomorrows character. In other countries people die for the right to vote, our country may die someday because so many dont care to vote. There are many books written on how to deal with difficult people. But do we ever pause to consider the shocking possiblity that we might be someones difficult person? Thousands of years from now, when they dig up our civilization they will wonder about this culture that seemed to worship boxes. Sound strange. Im talking about the big box that you find the family room furniture arranged around, and the little boxes found in several other rooms: the TV set. Watching other people live is not living. Many people mis-read a very important part of the Declaration of Independence. We dont have the right to happiness, we have the right to the pursuit of happiness. Kind of goes against the notion that we are entitled just by showing up. The best way to make a problem worse is to attempt to solve it with the same kind of thinking that created the problem. You can accomplish much more than you cant. If you dont want your children to say it, do it or think it, you better not say it, do it, or think it. Two of the most useless words are if only. Two cure for the if onlys are to do the necessary things today that eliminate the possibility of if only tomorrow. Its also important to remember that what might have been is not necessarily what would have been. Best way to communicate poorly - focus on making yourself understood first. Best way to communicate well - focus on understanding the other person first. Life has its moments of unexpected blessings out of unexpected problems. Our curious little son bent down to pick up a small cactus in the parking lot median. As I placed him in the car seat, with him wailing away and me wondering how am I going to get these thorns out and how am I going to explain this to my wife, up walks his pediatrician who stops and expertly removes them. Our children can be wonderfully humbling mirrors. After a prolonged temper tantrum resulted in our son missing out on a fun event, I actually heard this coming out of my mouth - when you decide to stay angry you can miss out on a lot of good stuff. Best quote Ive heard lately, from Rick Warren: If you are burning the candle at both ends, you may not be as bright as you think. |
