A Walk Towards

Questions

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by

The Voice Between
in

Sometimes we take things on with good intentions, and sometimes we take things on for the high. We start things because we are looking for that positive admiration from the crowd. We want to fit in. We want to be praised. We want to feel good. So we do these things with intention of succeeding, but once the high wears off we look for the next high. This is an addiction. The need for constant attention and admiration..intense gratification. The need to feel good by the approval of others.

How do we overcome this? How do we turn that switch off? How do we learn self-approval?

This is what I am asking myself today..

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2 responses to “Questions”

  1. Nancy Schlesiger Avatar
    Nancy Schlesiger

    How do we learn self-approval? Great question. I don’t know the answer, but I do know we have to love ourselves first before we can love anyone else. We have to find the Truth, believe in it, and live it, with full knowledge that we will fail. I know that God loves me, failures and all, and He gives me innumerable chances to get it right. So, I am not perfect, but I am loved–and that is enough for me to love others because He loves them, too, even if they may not love me back.

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    1. Renee Avatar
      Renee

      Experience leads to greater wisdom and it takes time to gain experience. I used to perseverate on the “whys” of life. I remember my dad saying ever so gently to me, “You don’t need the answer to every question.” Acts of service make us feel good about ourselves because we have evolved (or were designed) to be a pack, not loners. We are wired to feel good about acts of service so that our pack is more likely to survive. However, anything in excess is not a good thing. I remind myself to empower but not to enable.

      What I am growing to understand is that the command to “love your neighbor as yourself” is all about balance. We are to love our neighbor AND we are to love ourselves. I think I have always been better at loving (providing service to) my neighbors often times to my own detriment. I profess that if the driver of the ambulance crashes and burns, he is not able to help the patient in the back of the ambulance; Implying that self-care was an act of caring for others. While that is true, taking care of yourself is also about balance. Not only are all others children of God, so am I! I need to treat myself better. So how to do that…

      Some days i am happy and some days I am sad. Some days I am energetic and productive, and some days I rest and reflect. Some days I am brave and some days I am timid. Some days I am a leader and some days I am a follower/supporter. Embracing the dichotomies of myself and all others allows me not only to have compassion for others, but to have compassion for myself. For me, faith is about trusting that everything will work out and be okay.

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