Showing all posts in The Point

Fear drives the fearful to hide from false alarm. When driven to fear, some of us easily become bullies, threatening and harming those who are neither controlled by fear nor injured by what is feared. Yet, while fear-driven bullies seek to dominate, those without fear must take their stand.

It’s not bad to insist on living normally. When you do, bullies will falsely accuse you of bullying. To some extent, you can ignore words that spit venom without bite, but when people disrupt your normal pursuit of vibrancy, you must stop the bullies and those tho aid and abed bullying.  · · · →

What we expect can really hurt when it shows up in the wrong place, facing the wrong direction. Maybe it’s our uninformed, inexperienced instincts that lie to us about what’s coming. Maybe it’s our wishful thinking that clouds our reason. Just when we think a thing will happen, it doesn’t.

The aftermath—that’s the bite. We’re all set up, ready, prepped, primed, oiled, juiced, and waiting for what we are just so certain will come. Then, a surprise of nothing, then something we thought shouldn’t have been. It takes a lot of bites to learn which reversals will come next.  · · · →

Forgiveness is only hard when it’s needed. Forgiveness is double-edged: believing there is an offense while at the same time letting go of being offended. This requires maturity, nearly impossible; and it never gets easy. Our in-born tendency is to either beat people with their foolishness or forget that foolishness is foolish, acting like there is nothing to forgive.

Forgiveness changes people, nudging them to stop doing what what forgiven. If your own folly continues, then you haven’t been forgiven, maybe by yourself. It is hard to forgive others without forgiving yourself, and vice versa, because forgiveness is also two-sided.  · · · →

Storms don’t affect lighthouses. They stay put and stay lit. Ships trying to remain afloat have a different story.

On calms seas, shipping can make business, trade, and profit. But, when seas rage, cargo gets lost and shipping businesses can go belly up while lighthouses remain unaffected. It’s the storm and the shaking which separates lighthouse from vessel.

Unlike lighthouses and vessels, humans have a choice. In each moment, we can be calm and steady or we can be tossed by every wave and worry of every good and bad news. When the shaking comes, that’s your chance to shine.  · · · →