This tip brought to you by our Dad Guru John Valadez
on Sep 16, 2009
Yesterday I did something quite uncharacteristic of me. I involved myself in an argument, with a loved one, that got out of hand. I said things that were not needed to be said and honestly should’ve been kept to myself. My actions were shameful and I’m going to apologize to my family member this morning. My lesson was one of tolerance. What does it mean to be tolerant? In this particular instance my family member’s opinion differed from my own and I attempted to make them see their remarks from my point of view. Although, it seems common, my point of view included this person being someone she is not; whenever we decide to attempt to change a person we have to remember that all of us are individuals and are on own path in life. We can’t change people, only people can decide to change on their own; no matter how noble our intentions.
I obviously chose not to heed my own advice and completely blew my opportunity to show tolerance in this situation. I made a mistake; a big mistake.
There is nothing I can do because this incident already happened; therefore exists only in the past. I will apologize, but an apology never erases our mistake - it only attempts to heal a wound. We can only live for the present and my opportunity to show tolerance vanished with my outburst. I pondered for a great deal of time on what happened and my conclusion is that I am not as far along, as I thought, on my quest for enlightenment; I still have a long journey ahead of me. My lesson has shown me to not be silent in situations my opinion differs from others; but to be fair, objective and to have a permissive attitude towards other people’s opinions. I believe I will find myself in less and less conflicts the finer I become at being tolerant. In other words, as I achieve a higher tolerance my conflicts will decrease in number; only then will I have begun to learn my lesson.
Have a great day and God Bless.
