160111 Joy and Happiness

Joy in Your World

What's bringing you the most happiness in your life right now? Why is it such a good thing for you? Has it been present a long time, or is it a recent addition to your world?

Right this moment, it is hard to determine, since happiness is situational. For the first time in five years, I am fighting a cold. When I started with essential oils, certain illnesses became a thing of the past, but even these oils can't stand against a sick child who wants to rub her germs on my face. :(

On the other hand, the joy of the Lord is my strength. As I remember those things for which I am thankful, it does bring a smile to my face. My elder child is surviving adulthood. She takes care of herself more and more, and has graduated college without debt. She also has a job. The younger one, who brought me the current respiratory distress, will turn 18 this year and plans to move out of the camper ASAP. As much as I love her, I love to see her claim responsibility for her own life.

This nomadic lifestyle suits me. It sounds like the opposite of what many have proclaimed for decades, but less stuff makes the brain work better. Stuff requires care. At first, I wondered if I would miss certain things, but as I do without, I wonder why I thought I needed stuff in the first place. Yep. Doing more with less makes me happy.

151210 Writer's Block

Mending Fences

If you could restore one broken relationship from your past, which would it be? Why would you pick that one, and what happened that caused the relationship to deteriorate originally? What's been the best relationship you've ever had, and why was it so special?

REPLY14

Why does one need to go back? Frankly, we can't go back. What was done is done. We can attempt to repair, but we can't change the past. The only person you can control is yourself, and this includes controlling your own emotions. You can't make another person love you, or agree with you, or believe like you. If the other person wants to carry a grudge for something real or imagined, that is his or her burden. You can try to heal the relationship, but the only person you can really control is yourself. Be free, and quit bossing the other person around. 

My children and I have a great relationship, because I don't try to control them. Instead, I taught them right from wrong, and instructed them to make their own decisions based on the results they wanted. My adult child does things I don't like, but that simply means that she is her own person. She never intentionally hurts people, and I know that she loves me. The same goes for the teen. The main difference between them is that the teen is still under my supervision and my responsibility. I look forward to the day that she becomes an adult as well. She is almost prepared to take charge of herself. Perhaps parents and children fight because the parents forget that their job is to train a child how to function in life, and a typical lifetime has more adult years than childhood years.