In the United States, this is "Thanksgiving Week". Thanksgiving Day will be celebrated on Thursday of this week and, many families will be gathering together at various points during this week to spend time together.
I wanted to do a special series for this week as a way to encourage and uplift you even if you are not able to spend time with friends and family this week. I also wanted to do this even if it's not celebrated as Thanksgiving Day where you live. They will be short and to the point but I hope that they will be beneficial to you as you read. Be sure to listen to the podcasts as well by clicking on one of the links at the bottom of this article.
HEART:
I simply want to encourage you to "open" up your heart to those around you. I understand that, at times, it's difficult to deal with people - even family - when they disappoint you and let you down. I also understand that people can be very frustrating and that, at times, you can even feel anger toward them.
When that happens it becomes easy to "close up" in order to avoid the hurt and confrontation. It becomes easy to feel that the best way to "protect" yourself is by isolating yourself (both physically and emotionally) from others.
Hey, you can't get hurt, frustrated and/or disappointed if you aren't connected or involved in relationships, right?
WRONG!
Whether you are involved in relationships or not, you will STILL experience hurt, frustration and/or disappointment in someone, somewhere in some way! It is literally impossible for that NOT to be true, unless, of course, you completely isolate yourself from all human contact.
But, you don't want that, right?
Friend, do not close yourself off. Open up your heart to live and, yes, even to love. It doesn't have to be a "romantic" love to qualify as love. Will you get hurt? Maybe. Will you be disappointed? Probably. Frustrated? Most likely.
But, at the same time, you will become connected and you will begin to experience LIFE in the way that you were designed to experience it...CONNECTED TO OTHERS!
You will learn and develop the ability to handle the disappointments as well as any possible hurt or frustration that you may encounter. You will become a stronger person and, I believe, a happier person when you allow yourself to be OPEN to life.
Open up your heart and become a part of the world in which you live.
You'll be glad you did!
And, as you do so, be sure to...
"Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"
Mike
No comments:
Post a Comment