What Gives Me Hope….

Author: siggy

It was a simple realization:  the only person I can change is me.  I have no control of others.  In this case my wife.  Things had become a little ragged between us.  There was too much tension between us.  Tempers flared too often.  And I wanted it back to the way it used to be.

And this popped into my head:  I have absolutely no control of my “other”.  I do have control of me.  And that gave me hope, that our situation would improve.

Telling my wife you did this or that wrong was futile.  I had to figure out what I could change in me, how I could react differently to her.

Steven R. Covey in one of his books explained you always have a split second to choose your reaction to another.  There is that space.  You do not just have to react.

All this gave me hope.  It really was under my control.  I can not change another (in this case my mate) but I can change me, I can change my reaction.  All this gave me hope.

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One Response to “What Gives Me Hope….”

  1. Brother John Says:

    Siggy,

    You are getting to be very “Zen like” my friend. I really like that “…you always have a split second…” line. If all of us made use of the “split second” pause before we spoke, took a moment to consider our words, we might introduce less pain and negativity into our world. Good food for thought!

    Brother John
    Lansdowne, Pennsylvania USA