Persistent love breaks down rejection

This heart-string-pulling video has meaning on so many levels -- and the music is hauntingly beautiful

Leaving the past behind - for everyone

Every day I learn new things. I'm not just talking about facts or skills. I'm referring to the new things we learn about ourselves and our character, our priorities and our proclivities. If we are striving to "be better" people, chances are we are continually improving our dispositions, dropping undesirable ways of thinking and behaving, and we are treating others and ourselves with deeper love.

I am daily grateful for what I'm learning about the beauty and goodness of my fellow man and myself, as well as for the ways I'm growing and my character improving. As such, I often don't feel like the person I was in the past — even if that past was just the day before!

A popular quote says, "Don't judge me by my past. I don't live there anymore." Boy, can I relate! In thinking about this idea, a pair of unsettling questions came to mind. "Am I judging others by their pasts? Am I truly viewing them for the people they are today, as opposed to yesterday?" The answers were very humbling when I realized there are individuals whom I expect to act in certain untoward ways, simply because that is the way they behaved yesterday.

But, if I don't want others to do that to me, then why would I do that to them?!

This is something I'm working on step by step and will continue to do so. I've noticed when I expect people to act 'better' than the day before and look for evidence of this improved behavior, I often find it. This is not setting myself up with expectations that could end in disappointment. Rather, it's seeing the good already within each person, and seeing it manifested in their actions.

We all deserve a fresh start with each dawn. That's the beauty of a new day. So let's move out of the past, together, one day at a time.

Truer Colors

Have you seen those memes making the rounds that talk about how a person's true colors come out if they treat you badly at a time when you're going through something challenging and you're not behaving perfectly?

I've seen oodles of them, written in various forms, but sharing the same sentiment. Whenever I come across one of these thought-provoking posts, I wonder, "What about the people who are treating you badly? Don't they deserve to be given as much slack for their reactionary 'bad behavior' as you do for your behavior in the first place?"

The way I see it, we are all, yes all, doing our best in this life, and if someone doesn't respond or react the way we want, we can either write them off as 'toxic' and not worth keeping around because their true colors are so ugly and unappealing, or we can do just the opposite. We can take a moment to realize that they, like us, are going through something challenging and that we all deserve some slack.

People don't mean to be insensitive and unkind, and it doesn't feel good to be this way. So when someone responds to your crisis in a way that you feel is inappropriate, you have the opportunity to take the high road and elevate both of you.

After all, if we don't love and buoy each other, who will? It doesn't matter what the other guy is doing. It matters what you're doing. And what you can do is to go deeper in your understanding of unconditional love so as not to take perceived slights so personally, and to embrace the ones who react negatively to your struggles, cuz clearly, they're struggling too.

When the dust settles, we'll be better be able to see and discern the real colors of those around us ... and we'll find their beautiful.