Feeling good about things you should feel good about

Nobody talks about this.

But it’s important.

After twenty plus years of being in a position to listen to people talk, I hear a crucial distinction in what people say.

Some find it difficult to accept approval from themselves or anyone else.  Guilt and shame are constant companions.  While these people have many virtuous and beautiful things about them, they find it hard to see, believe, or accept.  Beyond humility, this tendency seems more damaging.

Others overestimate their influence and abilities, and I find them insufferable.  So, I don’t have much to say about these, because I don’t talk to them for very long!

But, it seems that there is a better way.

If you think back over the past week or month, what are you proud of yourself for doing?  What have you worked hard to accomplish?  What difficult task did you engage rather than avoid?  Perhaps it was simply one small step in the right direction.  Maybe you did something like this:

• Exercised 3 days last week
• Finished your taxes early
• Completed a project you’d been avoiding
• Loved in a difficult situation
• Gave 110% at work

Maybe these weren’t yours, but what were yours?

Could you take a moment to feel good about things you should feel good about?

Worth Repeating

I wanna have pride,
like my mother has,
and not like the kind in the Bible,
that turns you bad.

-The Avett Brothers, Perfect Space