I mentioned before that my father sends out emails every morning which are a motivational moment for the day. This was today's email:
"There is always a Good Side
Be an optimist and try to see the opportunity in every misfortune, not a pessimist that sees misfortune in every opportunity.
The optimist seees the doughnut, the pessimist sees the hole.
You can develop success from every failure. Discouragement and failure are two stepping stones in success.
No other elements can do so much for you if you're willing to study them and make them work for you. View every problem as an opportunity.
When it is dark enough, you can see the stars."
I wish that I could say that my life was all perfect and rosey. Unfortunately, there are some negative factors which try as I might, can't be eliminated. However, I try my best to find the good side.
Recently I was told of an incident which had happened and what someone had said about me. Discussion developed and the person wondered why I wasn't mad about what this person had said. My response related to today's daily motivation, but in different words. It had to do with how I viewed the situation. I made the choice to be optimistic. My success in this failure (someones false perception) was that I did not take it personally. I chose to not hold anger but to find forgiveness. It doesn't mean I like the things that were said but I'm not going to hold hatred in my heart (another success).
It reminded me of an article that I read recently. It is by Elder David Sorenson. The title of the article is called: Forgiveness Will Change Bitterness to Love (link is the title of article if you would like to read it) This article talks of anger and hatred and how it affected friends and family. I have seen what damage anger can do to friends and family. A part of this article which was poignant to me was that Elder Sorenson made a point to mention that just because we can find forgiveness for someone doesn't mean that we have to allow someone to continually hurt us. I know that in my life I have tried to turn the other cheek, be forgiving, be understanding and to do what's best for the most involved. Unfortunately, others don't always think the same way and sometimes take advantage of those of us who do. Eventually, we get tired of turning the other cheek and think "I am not going to allow this person to continue doing this". This sometimes can cause hard feelings when people don't understand that we are preventing bad behavior from continuing. Unfortunately, anyone can look in their lives and relate to this.
I can say that I have made my mistakes along the way with a friend in this regard. I do get tired of people trying to influence negative in my life or take more than what they should from my life. I am human. Unfortunately, I had an occassion where a friend, through my perception, was not going along with an agreement that had been established. I became upset and words were said. I think part of my anger was because I expected it from the others in my life (which I can't control) and did not expect it from my friend who was in my life out of a choice. I thought enough is enough. I am making the choice not to have anyone else do this to me. In this situation I was wrong. It has taken a while to rebuild those lines of communication. The good thing is I know that this friend is characteristically a positive person who cares a great deal. Forgiveness is not always easy but it definately requires reflection on our part in the situation. Forgiveness requires each party to be involved to be successful.
I wish I could say that there is success in all areas of forgiveness in my life. Try as I might to be a better person and to move on, sometimes others won't allow things to change. As I said it requires each party to be involved. I am grateful for my friend who is forgiving and allows things to change. We can "develop success from failure" and rebuild our friendship and I appreciate this. I can see the stars...
