Thought:

"We have gone through some difficult times. Times where both of our hearts have been broken and it was no one’s fault. We have had to process through some very confusing and emotional things together. These things almost always had to do with attachment issues that were very confusing and we had no one to talk to and no guidebook or standard to reference. All we had was each other. The ironic thing was, at times, our true love for each other made it that much harder, because it didn’t change the hard things that were happening. But it has allowed us to connect through intensely honest and intimate verbal communication and figure things out, even when it is hard."

"I know that I can always trust him. We know that we can both be very real, even if it hurts, because hiding feelings will only result in pain. We have both shared things that were very hard for us to process, but we did it with love and respect and a knowledge that we would always be there for each other."

"Our love is amazing. Yes, we sacrifice for each other, but isn’t that what true love is all about? Loving someone more than you love yourself? Letting go of self-interest and being all you can be for the person you choose? In my opinion, and in our experience, it is the “sacrificial love”—that sweet acceptance of a whole person, flaws and foibles and large deficits included right along with their amazing talents and attributes, and the giving up of desired things in favor of being with the one we choose to love—that makes our relationship so beautiful and brings us closer to each other, and closer to God himself."

~ Lolly Weed

The text above is written by a wife, talking about her husband.  I love how she expressed the way she loves her husband.  It is a good reminder for myself of how I want to think about life. While our background stories are completely different I find myself relating to her definition and expression of love.  "Sweet acceptance" (and I would add.... kind understanding) of all a persons talents, attributes, flaws and deficits are what it means to love. 

Thoughts:

-I have learned that "we" believe it is a strength, to conceal weakness.

-I have learned that it is easy to want others to overlook our flaws as we expect perfection in them.


-I have learned that it is hardest to show compassion and grant forgiveness to those closest to us.


-I have learned that we feel like a failure when we make mistakes even when we profess a belief that the purpose of this existence is to make and learn from them.


-I have learned that most communication between parents and children is what psychologists call “superficial.” Strong relationships are built on the “validating” variety.


-I have learned those who have made more mistakes have a great gift. Empathy. Now to the matter of searching out someone who hungers for it.



~ author: Russ Hill

Thought:

"It's you, not anyone else, who is responsible for your misery.  Yes, you may have been wronged, but in making bitterness a way of life you are compounding that wrong. 

You are your own self with only one life to live."

Author unknown

Smarter, Not Harder

Love this quote!

"You’ve got to work smarter, not harder."

Thoughts:

"Normal fear protects us; abnormal fear paralyses us. Normal fear motivates us to improve our individual and collective welfare; abnormal fear constantly poisons and distorts our inner lives. Our problem is not to be rid of fear, but rather to harness and master it."

Martin Luther King

"There are moments of such pure, sublime, unparalleled perfection that they will force you to close your eyes and hold on to them as best you can. Life is a series of these moments. Everything else is just waiting for them."

Iain Thomas

"One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful."

Author unknown

"As you grow up, you will learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken probably more than once and it will get harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You'll fight with your best friend. You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love.

 

So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you've never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back. Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin."

 

Unknown