Try it for six weeks, six days or six hours…but try it. Add love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance to the list of behaviors that family, friends, coworkers and associates can expect from you. Expect more of yourself, not others.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Thursday, October 4, 2012
But wait, their is someone I can train after all. It is me! Whether we are a business person, a parent, a minister, or a mate, there are some fundamentals of behavior that others ought to be able to expect from us. There is a bonus benefit, too. When we focus on how we treat others, we won’t have as much time to moan about how others are not living up to our expectations.
Remember Paul? No, not McCartney, but Saint Paul. He had some great advice for what others could expect from us. After talking about the less then marvelous behaviors most of us exude at one time or another, he challenged his audience to focus on nine dynamic qualities. He told them to project love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.
Remember Paul? No, not McCartney, but Saint Paul. He had some great advice for what others could expect from us. After talking about the less then marvelous behaviors most of us exude at one time or another, he challenged his audience to focus on nine dynamic qualities. He told them to project love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
I was not prepared when she said, “Why do you keep expecting them to be different?”
I sat there speechless for a moment and then muttered, “Because I want them to be different. My life would be better if they were.” This wise friend made this comment to me when I was experiencing extreme difficulty in a relationship. Later, as I replayed her comment over and over I kept landing on the word “expecting.”
The kind of “expecting” I was doing was the kind where I wanted to exert my influence in this problem person’s life and produce a different behavior. You know, trying to control someone else – for good of course. Oh, don’t act so innocent! I know that you have done it too.
Beyond a young child, whose behavior can be formed if you start early enough, I sometimes feel that the only thing I can train to respond appropriatly is a dog (certainly not a cat). That reminds me of the cartoon where the caption read, “To a dog you are a friend but to a cat you are staff.” Yes, expecting different behavior from other people is like trying to train a cat. (Watch out for the claws!)
I sat there speechless for a moment and then muttered, “Because I want them to be different. My life would be better if they were.” This wise friend made this comment to me when I was experiencing extreme difficulty in a relationship. Later, as I replayed her comment over and over I kept landing on the word “expecting.”
The kind of “expecting” I was doing was the kind where I wanted to exert my influence in this problem person’s life and produce a different behavior. You know, trying to control someone else – for good of course. Oh, don’t act so innocent! I know that you have done it too.
Beyond a young child, whose behavior can be formed if you start early enough, I sometimes feel that the only thing I can train to respond appropriatly is a dog (certainly not a cat). That reminds me of the cartoon where the caption read, “To a dog you are a friend but to a cat you are staff.” Yes, expecting different behavior from other people is like trying to train a cat. (Watch out for the claws!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)