Difference of Opinion?

Most of the time family feuds are fueled by stubborness. No one is going to give up their belief, and they will believe that they've been wronged the most. That's true sometimes. However, the most well-adjusted person will have an internal conversation about whether or not it's worth disliking someone who has a different  belief than yours. Some time ago I read an article about a study done some where,where people held certain beliefs, and that no matter how persuasive opposing evidence was no one was willing to change their minds about their belief. Which brings me to the topic at hand. This country is currently facing a deep political divide. Whatever side of the fence you stand on the other side is most certainly related to Satan in your mind. So you can stop speaking to each other, which gets you nowhere, or you can engage in a hurtful, name calling argument, and none of these things resolve a thing, nothing, nada, except a waste of your energy. I have an idea. I'm going to propose a game that doesn't have winners and losers. In this experience agreeing to disagree is a valid ending to the conversation. Everyone has...

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RAPID ONSET HEARTACHE

How many of you in relationships have been perfectly happy, life is beautiful, as is your relationship? You just feel good Then, out of left field, your partner gets angry at you for something and having a conversation about it is out of the question because he’s either yelling about it or he’s withdrawn and being as cold as he can manage to be, making sure you know they are being cold. And as soon as the happens, no matter how happy you were minutes before then, your heart feels like someone is squeezing it with a strong fist, your anxiety level ratchets up, you’re suddenly miserable. You may choose to fight until both of you retreat to separate couches, solving nothing, or you may decide to lick your wounds in separate parts of the house. But didn’t you even look down at your chest and wonder how your heart can feel pain that quickly, and how that pain is just devastating. You might do what you know you have to do as far as your obligations, but the entire time you’re miserable. Then, after the blowup where both of you get it all out and some, not in a...

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COMPLIMENTS ARE GOOD

I know. That seems obvious to anyone who is awake. Hold on there. Think about it. When was the last time you complimented your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or wife? Girlfriends compliment each other regularly, a lot. That’s part of being a girlfriend. People in other relationships, not so much. When was the last time your partner complimented you? I began thinking about this at the end of my “Tuesdays with grandchildren day” today. Every Tuesday I load up the car and take the youngest grandchildren to the movies or swimming or on a picnic, something to put some grandmother memories into them. As they get older, grandchildren have better things to do than hang out with grandma, especially once they have a drivers license. Fortunately I’ve had a steady stream of young grandchildren for the past twenty-five years so I’ve had the pleasure of seeing a lot of cartoon movies. This afternoon a little voice piped up from the back seat, “Oma, do you know you’re pretty?” Nine year old Logan was either looking for an ice cream before being delivered back home or he’s a natural and he’ll do well in relationships, probably the former but it did make...

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