Reflections
Lately, I've been thinking how I can be overly critical at times. Yes, I've got my pet peeves...I can be annoyingly obsessed about them when it involves physical harm to children (such as smoking, drinking or physical abuse). I'd assume most people are like this. On the whole, I'm not too crazy about stuff...actually a bit slack (it's all right if things get a bit messy). I guess what I'm getting at is, how sometimes, I can get a bit too judgemental about changes. I started to think about one of my favorite novels, "Emma" by Jane Austen and how we assume things about people we haven't met or once we do meet them, we get overly critical and find faults for no other reason then we feel threatened by change (or fear for some reason or another).
I just started thinking about this and came to the conclusion that people who are so overwhelmingly critical have some problem or issue they haven't worked out. It has nothing to do with you. It's only when that person can work through a particular stage, will they understand and learn to forgive.
Recently, I heard someone basically say something like half the population is not intelligent. I was surprised to see this and felt very sorry for the person who wrote this. It shows a huge deficit in that person if they truly think half of the world is below average. It's scary to think of lumping people into categories like this...has all sorts of implications that are not positive historically. I'd rather we lift up people and see that each person gives us something to learn. Certainly, there are people who are at extremes in what we can learn.
I can't help but think of Leo Buscaglia and his mentality at this point. There are many quotes by Buscaglia and one that comes to mind is "Love always creates, it never destroys..." For me, this means by lifting each other up, instead of tearing people down and being negative, we create good things.
For my self, I have to remember this constantly. It's easy as a mom/wife/artist/person to forget this and I need to remind myself how powerful such actions and words can be in the lives of those we hold most dear. It's a challenge but one we can obtain. It's about educating your self as well as making it so that other's can see by your example, how to be live better.
I remember several really great professors when I was in college. One was a sociology professor and she told us what made her happy. The first thing was that she was married and had her 4 kids. The second was that her kids brought their friends over to her home to hang out. The 3rd that she could afford a new washer when they needed it. I thought, wow. These basic things are what make most of us happy.
“It's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely.”
Leo Buscaglia
Yes, I think that's exactly what we should be living for. Have a good day!
I just started thinking about this and came to the conclusion that people who are so overwhelmingly critical have some problem or issue they haven't worked out. It has nothing to do with you. It's only when that person can work through a particular stage, will they understand and learn to forgive.
Recently, I heard someone basically say something like half the population is not intelligent. I was surprised to see this and felt very sorry for the person who wrote this. It shows a huge deficit in that person if they truly think half of the world is below average. It's scary to think of lumping people into categories like this...has all sorts of implications that are not positive historically. I'd rather we lift up people and see that each person gives us something to learn. Certainly, there are people who are at extremes in what we can learn.
I can't help but think of Leo Buscaglia and his mentality at this point. There are many quotes by Buscaglia and one that comes to mind is "Love always creates, it never destroys..." For me, this means by lifting each other up, instead of tearing people down and being negative, we create good things.
For my self, I have to remember this constantly. It's easy as a mom/wife/artist/person to forget this and I need to remind myself how powerful such actions and words can be in the lives of those we hold most dear. It's a challenge but one we can obtain. It's about educating your self as well as making it so that other's can see by your example, how to be live better.
I remember several really great professors when I was in college. One was a sociology professor and she told us what made her happy. The first thing was that she was married and had her 4 kids. The second was that her kids brought their friends over to her home to hang out. The 3rd that she could afford a new washer when they needed it. I thought, wow. These basic things are what make most of us happy.
“It's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely.”
Leo Buscaglia
Yes, I think that's exactly what we should be living for. Have a good day!
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