How to Avoid Hurt Feelings

Has anyone ever said this to you: “Don’t be so sensitive. I was only kidding.” If so, did it change the way you felt? Chances are it didn’t because you had already taken the matter to heart and it had already hurt your feelings.

Needless to say, not every hurt feeling can be avoided, but some can, especially the unnecessary ones. How? By looking for the love; i.e., good intention, behind the act. Remember: if it’s not an act of love, it’s just a minor distraction not worthy of being taken to heart. When you choose the matters you take to heart based on the good intentions you find behind them, you’ll find that your feelings get hurt a lot less often.

Here’s an easy way to avoid prolonged hurt feelings. The next time someone does or says something that initially hurts your feelings, ask yourself this question: “Where is the love in what this person did or said?” If you can’t find it, you know it’s not a matter worth taking to heart. Let it go.

Who Said What About Peace?

One thing I like more than a good peace quote is being able to see who said it. This really cool slide show from the Universal Peace Federation offers both. Enjoy!

Breathing Is a Spiritual Experience

The other day, I read an article on the importance of breathing. It said that most people feel anxious and stressed when they aren’t breathing in enough oxygen. I understand more fully now what the article meant.

A moment ago, I was feeling anxious and stressed. I took a deep breath, and I instantly felt better. I realize now that when we breathe deeply, we inhale the spirit of God that strengthens us and flows through every aspect of our body to energize and revive us.

When we breathe out, we are sharing our renewed strength in the form of carbon dioxide. We put it back into the universe as positive energy for others to inhale, use and pass on.

I now understand that breathing is more than a physical experience. It’s spiritual, and when we do it, we are not only renewed; we renew the world.

Love Is the Dream Come True

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream that is coming to pass, not in the world at large--yet, but in smaller, more intimate ways--in our individual lives. Dr. King dreamed that we would learn to see and love each other beyond the color of our skin and form relationships based on the content of our character. We each have the power to do that, and in our day-to-day lives, many of us are using it.

More and more, we're discovering that we may not be able to change the world, but we can change how we are in the world--with each other. As we take the time to get to know each other on a more personal level, we discover that we really are more alike than we are not alike. When we let love lead us to overlook color to form meaningful relationships, that's no dream. That's real change.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This video says it best!