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Even as my dad’s behavior was hurtful at times, he was easy to love–he could made me laugh in the middle of an argument with a sarcastic and hilarious aside–but I can think of a few people in my life that suffocate and starve my warm fuzzies. For them, I remember the first of “The Paradoxical Commandments,” written by Kent M. Keith: “People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.”
He elaborates on all of the commandments in his book, “Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments“:
“Lucy, in the ‘Peanuts’ cartoon strip by Charles Schulz, once said: ‘I love mankind. It’s people I can’t stand.’
“People can certainly be difficult. Some are hard to love. Some are so illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered that we can’t stand them. But we should love them anyway.
“Love is the greatest gift that we can give and receive. It is a gift that all of us need to give and receive. A life without love is a life not fully lived. Don’t limit your life by limiting your love.
“The psychologist Abraham Maslow once observed that love is as essential to the growth of a human being as vitamins, minerals, and protein. I believe that human beings are built to run on love. We are designed that way. If we are not giving and receiving love, we are not operating on all our cylinders. We are not who we are supposed to be. We are not all that we can be. We are not doing all that we can do.
“It is a tragedy when people decide not to love others because they don’t approve of them, or they see them as illogical or unreasonable or self-centered, and not worthy of their love. It is a tragedy because love is not about approval or worthiness. It can’t be…. If approval and worthiness were really a prerequisite for love, there would be very little love in the world.”
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Previous Posts
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The Treasures of Darkness
posted 6:06:40am Feb. 06, 2012 | read full post »
On Groundhog Day: 12 Winter Depression Busters
posted 6:30:47am Feb. 02, 2012 | read full post » |
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Therese J. Borchard writes the daily blog, Beyond Blue, on Beliefnet and is a regular contributor to the award-winning blog, World of Psychology, on Psych Central. Therese is the author of Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression & Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes and The Pocket Therapist: An Emotional Survival Kit. Subscribe to Beyond Blue, visit her website, or follow her on Twitter @thereseborchard.
Meet others on the journey in
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Therese J. Borchard writes the daily blog, Beyond Blue, on Beliefnet and is a regular contributor to the award-winning blog, World of Psychology, on Psych Central. Therese is the author of Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression & Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes and The Pocket Therapist: An Emotional Survival Kit. Subscribe to Beyond Blue, visit her website, or follow her on Twitter @thereseborchard.
posted April 27, 2007 at 6:30 am
Love is one of the wonders of life. It glorifies; it makes one happy, sad, silly, sorry,and many other emotions come to mind. Without it, I truly believe one dies inside. I only feel this way as I have loved and been loved before. I know real love; true love, one that lasts until death do you part. So I also know that I can recognize it again. Sadly it’s not looked at as real by the person involved. It’s looked at as an emotional attachment, a figment of my imagination, and so forth. It’s too bad because I might be looking for it in a place where it’s not returned but don’t tell me what I know I feel and don’t tell me that it’s not real or imagined or an emotional attachment. I won’t buy it and if if can’t be acknowledged or recognized then so be it. I’ll move on in my life and thank God for giving me what I thought was something beautiful..I’ll never forget………
posted April 30, 2007 at 11:40 pm
dream a beautiful dream for the love you know is there and reach out to the one you love
posted May 17, 2011 at 5:52 am
Love them anyway.. Neat