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Showing posts from September, 2018

Giving the Benefit of the Doubt

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Sometimes I feel like the word "forgiveness" is overused, or perhaps misplaced at times. For instance, forgiveness not only means pardoning an offense, but it also means to pardon certain behaviors or personality types. To be completely honest, I find myself having a hard time connecting with certain people---which doesn't mean it's all their fault. I place blame on my view of them, their behavior or maybe a clash in opinions and beliefs. It all depends. In the past, I have had a couple of friends who were just bluntly honest to a flaw. I remember this one time, we were all having dinner at a local restaurant and bar. We were talking about our passions in life, mine being art, writing and music, and the other people were very passionate about exercising and going to the gym. They were in super tiptop shape! I admired their dedication to their health. For me, I've never really cared if I was 'thick' or overweight. I mean, granted I'd like to lose wei

When Someone Minimizes Your Anxiety Disorder

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Talking about mental health itself has a certain stigma about it. In fact, I'm not sure if it's gotten better or worse. There's a "crazy" notion attached whenever certain people hear, "anxiety disorder," "depression," "bipolar," or even "mental illness." Let's face it, if you claim to be "normal"---you're no doubt probably the opposite...and guess what? That's OK! We all have our 'thang' so to speak. We all  have struggles in life. We've all most likely lost a loved one through a death or breakup, or we've had our hearts broken or we just suffer from anxiety and depression from a chemical imbalance. There is nothing to be ashamed of. The only thing to be ashamed of is if you're the type of person who belittles other people who are suffering. There's a special kinda hell for people like that. Most of the time, those who mock others with mental illness are showing a sure sign of

How Do You Cope With a Toxic Person in Your Life?

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So many of us have been judged, or have even judged others. We've been taught that "judging" someone is a bad thing to do, but realistically, it's our innate nature to automatically form an opinion---to judge, whether it's good or bad. If I hear someone talking badly about someone or wishing ill will on another person, I automatically "judge" them to be someone who hates themselves. People who hate themselves usually ramble on about other people, or wish bad things to happen to them. That's just psychology 101---not to mention that's also some bad juju. Even gossip itself is a form of judgment. In Judaism, there's a saying that gossip kills three: the speaker, the listener and the one being spoken of. Anyone who gossips about someone else to you, will most likely be gossiping about you as well. I'm not perfect and from time to time, I like hearing about how a friend is doing or what's going on in their lives through someone else, bu