(no subject)
Here's an idea.
A long time ago, at youth group (that means, a LONG time ago), there was a discussion about how, throughout life, you're supposed to move in an upward direction, making yourself better, and letting yourself get better and better and better until, when you die, ideally, you're ready for Heaven.
When we say that someone's life is just getting worse and worse and worse, we say that they're in a downward spiral.
What if that self-improvement thing is an upward spiral: and that because of that upward spiral, we sometimes run into the same issues that we've faced before, within ourselves, just in a different light? That when we supposedly become better and better people, our inner core isn't really changed - we're still the same person, but we just handle ourselves in such a way that it seems like we're different people.
Reason I'm saying all this is that I have a tendency to get really angry (I mean, REALLY angry) when people make the same criticisms that others have made of me before - because it makes me think that I haven't changed or grown since I last recieved that particular criticism (which isn't true - people are always growing, always changing, but still remaining the same . . . it makes sense). My thought is that, as we grow and change, we are eventually presented with similar, if not the same, situations and challenges that we've faced before, and, if we handle it even just a little bit differently - a little bit better - then we've grown and changed.
Yeah . . . I'm a bit more punchy these days, unfortunately. Anyways - to dinner.
A long time ago, at youth group (that means, a LONG time ago), there was a discussion about how, throughout life, you're supposed to move in an upward direction, making yourself better, and letting yourself get better and better and better until, when you die, ideally, you're ready for Heaven.
When we say that someone's life is just getting worse and worse and worse, we say that they're in a downward spiral.
What if that self-improvement thing is an upward spiral: and that because of that upward spiral, we sometimes run into the same issues that we've faced before, within ourselves, just in a different light? That when we supposedly become better and better people, our inner core isn't really changed - we're still the same person, but we just handle ourselves in such a way that it seems like we're different people.
Reason I'm saying all this is that I have a tendency to get really angry (I mean, REALLY angry) when people make the same criticisms that others have made of me before - because it makes me think that I haven't changed or grown since I last recieved that particular criticism (which isn't true - people are always growing, always changing, but still remaining the same . . . it makes sense). My thought is that, as we grow and change, we are eventually presented with similar, if not the same, situations and challenges that we've faced before, and, if we handle it even just a little bit differently - a little bit better - then we've grown and changed.
Yeah . . . I'm a bit more punchy these days, unfortunately. Anyways - to dinner.