BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality New Age What life lessons do you have?

Barbara, it's lovely that you can see the role that you play for people. Don't be embarrassed to acknowledge that. We are so conditioned to 'it isn't nice to boast' as kids that we find it hard to give ourselves credit when it's due as adults.

Froggie...I'm still working on the tolerance & non-judgementalism...they are hard! Forgiving ourselves is also a toughie...most of us feel like we should be going round giving ourselves a good telling off! How daft are we <img src="/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

LOL Firefly!!! That was always my Dad's job! I swear he could not pass up a single turtle without stopping and getting it out of the road - and I don't care if it was on I-20! Me - I just try to kill myself missing the kamikazi squirrels that live around here. <img src="/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

Life lessons, hmmmm...
I've learned that it is not my place to judge. Which is a much simpler statement to make than it actually is to live! Because I cannot agree with everyone's choice of lifestyle, but even if I don't, I must accept it because it is not my life. And I find it easier every day to separate people from their actions so that I can make friends with a person, even if I don't agree with them about everything.

My eye-opening moment came when I was in the hospital for depression and met another woman there. We got along really well, and she was hurting terribly. She was a sever bi-polar disorder. The day she left she was escorted off by police - it was then that I found out that she had been having a realtionship with a 15 yr old, and was under arrest for that. I immediately went to judge her and dismiss every kind and sympathetic thought I had had for her, and then I stopped when I realized that she was no different from what she had been the day before. She was still a terribly sick and hurting woman - which was probably why she had gotten into this relationship to begin with. And I had to go back and rethink every other judgemental decision I had made and realize that I would never know all the facts in every story - that only God does, so only He is qualified to make judgements.

but it is still hard not to do sometimes. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

That's beautiful Michelle. We'll never agree with everyone about everything, nor do we need to, but when we get judgemental we potentially miss out on some very interesting experiences & people. (Sadly most of the world is stuck in judging, often without even knowing people...hence divisions in society according to religion, race, gender, and so on)You are right that this judging is a hard habit to kick- but bringing it to consciousness is the first place to start as you've identified.

I guess I have had a couple that have become a big part of my life:
to acknowledge that happiness comes and goes... and comes again. In a relationship, if we left every time we are unhappy, we'd be always ending something.
BUT... I also believe in the absolute rightness of letting go of everything sometimes. When a relationship, job, stuck in a rut kind of spot in life, is simply not working for you, don't stay put for silly reasons like money, security, fear of lonliness etc. Life is too short, so go on and live. Let go and see where you land.

I grew up thinking that I needed a job to work at for 40 years and retire comfortably. I learned early in adulthood that I could follow my dreams and money didn't matter that much, passion did.