Tag Archives: unhealthy relationships

Do You Ever Get Angry With Yourself?

Posted in Difficult Relationships, Love, Relationships by

Busy WomenHave you ever gotten angry at yourself because you forgot to put your cell phone in your purse? Or you made a scratch with your key on  your car door, and thought, “How could I be so careless?”

If you get angry with yourself or if someone at work makes you angry or another driver ticks you off, that anger may end up being directed at the person you love. Even if the tirade of fiery words is not directed at anyone in particular, it will make those nearby uncomfortable. If that happens, an apology is in order.

As quickly as that apology is spoken, its acceptance should follow. This isn’t a fight where defenses need go up. This is a case of collateral damage. since the intent to harm wasn’t there and the harm was negligible, it needs to be put aside as quickly as possible. If you have a short fuse, then be very careful that your anger is directed at the proper party. If a driver cuts you off, don’t just curse, but let those in the car know whom you are cursing at . At least that way they’ll know that you’re not angry at them. You might even want to give up cursing while you’re at it. 

Sometimes anger can be held in. Other times it can’t  be held back. Like a volcano, the hot lava of angry words just spews out. Like a shotgun blast, it might hit its target but also everything else nearby., including people you love and whom you don’t want to feel its heat. Remember the ones you love are not trash cans go get a grip on your anger issues.

Do You Really Need to Fire Your Verbal Machine Gun?

Posted in Addictions, Co-Dependency, Difficult Relationships, Love, Marriage, Relationships, Self- Help by

Be RealBefore you fire your verbal machine gun it’s important to investigate the maturity of your emotional output. Just because you feel like saying something doesn’t mean it has to be said in the way or at exactly the moment you feel like saying it. Remember, your relationship is a precious thing that deserves to be preserved. Look for a more appropriate time and way to express your feelings so that your relationship will be enhanced rather than eroded or destroyed.

When you fight leave the kitchen sink in the kitchen. What I mean by this is don’t just throw things into the argument that don’t have anything to do with the issues at hand. Why bring up something that happened ten months ago that just adds confusion and  is not the right way to treat someone or anyone.

So no matter what you’re so furious about, try to resist the temptation to let it all hang out or to let the devil take the hindmost. It’s important to stop and think before you let the other person have it. Ask yourself two questions.

Do I really need to say this? That is, does this horrible, angry, vituperative, or character-blasting thing really need to be said? Will it improve the immediate situation? Is there anything useful to be gained by saying mean words? For example, saying to your sweetheart that you not only think your sex life is awful now, but it has been for the past five years? Will this or similar remarks speed up the person’s evolution, or your own, or is saying it just the indulgence of revved up emotions that want to released?

Ask yourself this question. Do I really need to say this now? The diatribe you want to indulge in may include some very valuable points that really do need to be expressed. But is this the time to make them? Will you set off a furor or engender a useful response? Remember you are not a trash can and if you are in a relationship with someone who says horrible, angry, vituperative character blasting things at you or about you . You might consider getting counseling to find out why you are allowing someone to treat that way because God didn’t create you to be treated badly by anyone.

 

In A Time Of Crisis Can You Rely On Your Sweetheart?

Posted in Co-Dependency, Difficult Relationships, Harmony, Love, Marriage, Relationships, Self- Help by

FreeSadly, you may be in a crisis or maybe more than one. You may be feeling that no matter how blue the skies are today, it’s going to rain on your parade at some point. When that happens you should be able to use your sweethearts shoulder to cry on but sometimes for one reason or another they let you down. If the crisis thunders by quickly, the relationship will surely hold, but if it lingers it could  pull you further and further apart until the relationship breaks. And in a hurricane of events, even the most solid of duos may find themselves straining to hold their relationship together.

When you’re under stress, it’s easy to take your sweetheart for granted, but that may leave you blind-sided by a blow from somewhere that you least expect it. If your relationship has never been test by one of life’s more serious curves, don’t assume that you know how well your tires will stick to the road. In times of crisis, don’t leave having some private time to chance where you can be alone with your sweetie. Family and friends may want to crowd around to comfort you, but it’s very important that the two of you connect without being under the spotlight.

If your relationship seems like a firestorm no matter how terrified or tense or sad you are, push aside those emotions and focus on yourself. Dive deep down away from the flames and into what’s in your heart and hold on until you can take action and make the necessary changes. Sometimes it can be your sweetheart that is the crisis. If that’s the case you might have to take some alone time to sort out if the crisis is on going because of their choices and just let them go or figure out if it’s just a one time crisis. No matter what storms of life you are in remember you are not a trash can and you deserve to be loved and respected.

Rediscover The Harmony In Your Life

Posted in Addictions, Co-Dependency, Difficult Relationships, Harmony, Hope, Love, Marriage, Relationships, Self- Help by

A man should find himself before he finds a womanHarmony is the spiritual beauty of any intimate relationship and the elegant coexistence, peaceful compatibility, a similarity of frequency. It’s knowing that you share the same view of the world, that what you want out of life runs along parallel lines. It’s looking at your sweetheart and being able to say to yourself,”We stand for the same things, don’t we? “We may encounter some rough spots, but at heart we both share the same values.”

In relationships, harmony is a gift of the spirit. It is a mystic similarity of essence that allows you to operate both separately and together from knowing that between you there is a sacred resonance. In a sense, it’s the very reason you chose each other in the first place, if there weren’t a certain degree of harmony between you, you wouldn’t have thrown your lot in together and established a relationship. When there’s harmony you can feel it: it will add grace to all your undertakings, your work, the rearing of your children, the way you conduct the actions in your daily life, the way you handle conflict, and what you perceive to be the underlying deep direction of your life.

Unfortunately, life scratches and claws at the harmony of our relationships. Too many demands in to many forms can undermine the pleasant ground of any union’s harmoniousness. Conversely, harmony that is nurtured can be restored by being lovingly remembered. If the harmony in your relationship is lacking ask yourselves the following questions: After all the fuss and fray, when the kids are in bed, when the fight is over, is the stream of your life together most of the time so good, so flowing, that, in general, you can give thanks for his or her presence in you life? In what ways are the two of you at the core, a complement, a mirror, a balance for one another? What things still gives you pleasure together? What is the highest purpose of your relationship and what is your common undertaking? 

If you are having a hard time finding answers to these  questions, take a good look at what’s compromising the harmony in your relationship. Is it something you can change? is it circumstantial, you’re wife’s been working over time for a month, or is it an emotionally issue that needs to be dealt with? What is the one thing you can do or say that would be a first step towards restoring harmony? Once you take the first step towards harmony it will pursue you.

 

Life is a series of choices

Posted in Co-Dependency, Difficult Relationships, Hope, Love, Relationships, Self- Help by

Walking AwayLife is a series of choices and dependency is a reliance on something or someone else for support or existence. ” I must have this to live.” Dependency can be either negative or positive. Dependency can be an addition to any abject, behavior, or person that represents an underlying attempt to get our emotional needs met. ” I must do this to meet my needs, to make me happy, to make me feel significant. What have you become dependent on that may be causing you more pain than it’s worth? 

Everyone  is suffering from some form of addiction even additions that come under behaviors that are generally considered to be good, those that are wildly socially acceptable but may be equally harmful such as perfectionism, workaholic, care giving, extreme weight loss.

Or, maybe you are suffering form a love addition in which you feel your identity is in another person ( A weak “love addict” is emotionally dependent on someone considered strong.) “A savior addiction” in which you feel your identity is in your ability to meet the needs of another person ( A strong ” savior” needs to be needed by someone considered weak.) Because addictions can provided a momentary high, good feelings are usually associated with them.

Life is full of a myriad of possibilities for us to choose from and once we lose our way we can start to feel as if we are at the mercy of the wind blowing from one person to another, from one philosophy to another. You can even to start to feel like you are a trash can . . . I am here to tell you no matter what your addiction is or dependency is about you are not a trash can! 

Happily Ever After Sounds So Romantic and Appealing Doesn’t It?

Posted in Difficult Relationships, Hope, Love, Relationships, Self- Help by

Sweet Little GirlThe idea of Cinderella and other legendary princesses from the land of make-believe has captured the heart of almost every little girl for decades thanks to the creative genius of the late Walt Disney and the company he founded. When you were growing up were you captivated by the Princess World and everything pink, from the sheets on your bed to the princess costumes made of tulle and gauze? Or did you identify with Cinderella before she became a princess? Snow White, Cinderella, plus Ariel and Belle “Bibbi-de-bob-adee-boo,” there’s a Princess team.   

Each princess has a story and a recipe for their favorite food to bake on their talking pink Princess stove. Cinderella has her pumpkin pie, Snow White prefers apple cobbler. The tea-pot makes a whistling noise and tea is served with plastic bananas, hot dogs and cupcakes. Princesses live on cupcakes and pink princess dollars. Take a stroll through any toy store and you see the power of the princess. There are princess CD’s, DVD,s tea set, gowns and puzzles and much more.

Sometimes it seems as if all princess sound alike, so it’s hard to tell if you are listening to Snow White or Pocahontas, who has been made an honorary princess in the spirit of cultural diversity. All princesses’ voices are lifting and sweet. Just because we all read Snow White, and most of us did, that doesn’t mean that we grew up to cook and clean for seven short men, hiding in the dense Forrest from the evil stepmother who wants to do us in.

The question that so many are wondering about is, Why are girls so taken with the princess fantasy?  Is it because every girl wants to be considered physically attractive? Snow White was proclaimed “the fairest of them all”by the magic mirror, and all eyes were on Cinderella at the top of the staircase when she walked into the ballroom. Or, is it the song? Every Disney princess has a beautiful voice, and some of the story lines are based around talent. Or, it the beautiful clothes? Princess wear lovely gowns in bright colors.

Or maybe, it’s the handsome suitor. A princess is always pursued by an attractive male prospect? Or, is the hope of going from rags to riches by marring a prince? And last of all the happily ever after part . . . this is true for every Disney princess, but unfortunate not for the rest of us. Nevertheless, the concept of marring a handsome prince and living happily ever after (no, conflicts or problems) is appealing to young dreamers who hope that one day they will the same privilege. “Happily ever after” sound so romantic and appealing doesn’t it?

What about the little girls who grew up hearing cruel voices following them wherever they went? What happens when they don’t have allies to intervene? What happens to them when they hear evil messages in their immature ears:”The other children don’t like you.” “See, I told you you’d fail.” “You’re different.” “You’re foolish.” “They hate you.” You’re worthless!” As time passes, the voices get louder and more urgent, until they obliterate all other sounds in an adolescents mind and throughout adult hood .

Girls want to know who they are! They want to be accepted and loved. I want you to know that you are one of a kind uniquely created and full of untapped talents and . . . you are not a trash can!

 

Have The Courage To Say No

Posted in Difficult Relationships, Hope, Love, Marriage, Relationships, Self- Help by

Don't marry the wrong personHaving the courage to say “No’ means that you trust yourself and your relationship. It means you believe your bond has the strength and resilience to absorb your “No,” as well as the power and to grow in moral fortitude. In saying “No” you exercise that faith, that the two of you, together, can live by the values represented by our No; recognizing that theses values will take you to a level higher that the one embodied by the things that you are choosing to resist. 

Sure, you could have five more drinks and lose consciousness. Yes, you could tell a lie and lose your integrity, Yes, you could capitulate to all your sweethearts preferences and then resent him or her because you did. We are defined in life and in love not only by what we have the fortitude to undertake but also by what we have the courage to resist. In a long ago movie, Days of Wine and Roses, a man a woman descend into a wildly gyrating spiral of alcoholism, all the while egging each other on. Finally, the man says “No” to himself, then eventually to his wife. 

Life doesn’t always ask us for such intense denunciations, not is the path to our “No’s” always so excruciatingly painful. But we all have things that we have to say “No” to, for ourselves and in our relationships or else move in a direction that isn’t for our highest good.

Sometimes these “No’s” are small and simple, an unadorned statement of preference that’s a quiet affirmation of your right to be yourself. “No, I don’t want to go to the late show; I’ll be too tired for work in the morning. “No, I don’t want dessert,” “No, I don’t want to go to the party.” Sometimes they ask for more strength, require that you actually take a stand:  “No, I buy a new car  . . . We’re already in too much debt,” or sometimes, as in the unforgettable, movie, they involve issues of life and death: “No, I won’t give up my AA meeting just because you’d like me at home on Tuesday night.”  “No, I don’t want to marry you and “No I don’t want to drink or use drugs with you any more. Sometimes you just got to say “I”m not a trash can and stick up for yourself . . .

You’re Not A Trash Can

Posted in Difficult Relationships, Hope, Love, Relationships, Self- Help by

You're Not A Trash CanYou are not a trash can . . .You Are Not A DumpsterYou are not a dumpster . . .You're not a Trash CompactorYou are not a trash compactor . . .Be StrongHurting people hurt people . . .Let your dreams be bigYou are smart, you can do it, you are can trade your ashes for beauty . . .

Stop Being A People Pleaser and Become The Authentic You!

Posted in Difficult Relationships, Hope, Love, Relationships, Self- Help by

Be RealPerhaps as a child you were told not to toot your own horn, even when you accomplished something amazing. Or maybe you were told to stop dreaming of setting the world on fire, and “have modest aspirations, so you wouldn’t be disappointed.” Maybe when you try to express your authentic self you hear an old voice berating you for “being a show off.” Yet at the same time, out of the corner of your eye you see it was the big gestures that got all the attention in life. Glamour. Fame, Wealth. The trinity of what’s considered good taste and worshiped by the world. Or at least that’s the way the international best-dressed lists, the movie stars’ mansions that are glorified in glossy layouts. It’s not enough to write a finely honored first novel, it has to be a best-seller or you’ll have difficulty publishing a second one. 

You can’t just be a talented actress, you have to win an Academy Award to be considered a success. Tell me, when was the last time you knew of a bronze medalist signing a $1 million endorsement deal? Most of us wouldn’t see our name in lights on Broadway, so we give up, sorry we even tried, our sense of self diminished. Being a modest success just doesn’t make it. We hear “modest” and think “mediocre.” What if modesty isn’t the self-effacing shy, retiring, nerdy virtue we’ve thought she is? What if modesty is really passion restrained? What if modesty is a virtue full of her own smoldering sense of self that she isn’t distracted by the glitz? The American writer and illustrator Oliver Herford believed that modesty was ” the gentle art of enhancing your own charm by pretending not to be aware of it.” People with an authentic style know what they are, but even more important, they know what they are not. They don’t care about labels, They care about personal expression.

Frank Lloyd Wright would never have asked Laura Ashley to decorate his house, even though both showcase the beauty of modesty in their work. The trick is to go deep enough to tap into the core of your authenticity and allow it to flourish. Are you wondering how to begin? First, find out what you love and remember that if you are someone who has tried to please other people or what we call a “people pleaser” this can seem like a daunting task. You may experience awareness that you are  so disconnected from yourself that you don’t even know what you like do,much less love to do. You might want to talk to someone who is professional trained who can teach you how to go from being a people pleaser and help you to find your authentic self.

I leave this thought with you today. Goldilocks was a modest little lady who didn’t want very much. She knew what was “just right,” what was perfect for her . . . be it porridge, chair or bed and she made confident, creative choices. Now there’s a girl we should all want to be when we grow up. It’s never to late, you’re never to old, to young, to find your authentic self . . .  and you clearly are not a trash can.