Archive for October, 2008
Is Love A Foreign Language?
Posted by: | CommentsIf you can’t answer YES to all of the following questions….Then love just might be a foreign language to you.
• Do you know how to recognize when you are loved totally and unconditionally?
• Do you know why it is important to love and be loved? Are you aware of the ways you can demonstrate your love?
How Do You Create the Language of Love?
What is the language of love? How do you know when you are loved totally and unconditionally? Is it important to love and be loved? Are you aware of the ways you demonstrate your love? Can you love everyone you meet? How do you create the language of love?
Make Your Presence Powerful
First, acknowledge each person you meet. Give eye contact and use the person’s favorite word – their name! This is music to their ears. In addition, give people your undivided attention. Listen and hear what they have to say. When was the last time someone really listened to you? Listening is loving.
Second, appreciate people. Recognize their existence and presence. “Start where people are, not where you want them to be.” “Move in and out of their world on their terms not yours.” This is the best way to connect with people. They feel special when they know that someone is really appreciating where they are coming from.
The third simple step is to give affirmation. An affirmation is a declaration to set in motion a way of being. Affirmation comes from the Latin affirmare and means to make firm. Thomas Kane, in his book Happy Are You Who Affirm says, “The healing touch of affirmation means I encourage persons to BE who they are, immaturity and shortcomings included, so that their potential may BE realized.” Find qualities in people that serve them and give affirmation. For example, “Michael, you a sensitive person and I congratulate you on how you help others.” Be specific when giving and affirmation. Give them freely, daily and then watch what happens!
Bill McGrane is President of the McGrane Global Centers creators of the Making it Happen and Move Into Your Greatness. The Centers offers, keynotes, seminars, consulting and products that improve individual and organizational performance. You can create highly responsible teams and produce a culture of responsibility. Call 859-384-6333 or mcgrane@mcgrane.com or view our web site at www.mcgrane.com.
Do Christians need Self-esteem?
Posted by: | Comments“Do as Jesus did.” At some point in our lives we have all heard this, and it is a valid statement. However, we soon find that, in our human efforts, it is seldom easy to accomplish. Why? Jesus taught some very basic truths. Why do we find it so difficult to do as He did? The problem is not in what He taught, the difference in His time in history and ours, or in the fact that He was fully God as well as fully man. The problem is in us. Are self-esteem principles meant for Christians? Let’s take a closer look.
Jesus was keenly aware of who He was and what He was sent to do. He was secure in His identity. Herein lies the whole of our difficulty. Jesus had healthy self-esteem; most of us do not. He told us to love others as He loves us (John 15:12). He loved others unconditionally. This is how we are to love others, and ourselves.
Matthew 22:39 says that the second of the two Great Commandments is for people to love others as we love ourselves. Loving ourselves is at the core of a healthy self-esteem. The only way to experience this is to see what God sees, first in us, then in others. As Christians, this means knowing and believing what God says about us, about who we are and what we have in Him.
Our identity comes from God, not from our past history, good or bad, or from what we may have accomplished. When we know who we are in Christ, we are able to love ourselves. It is not the physical person standing in the mirror that we are loving, but the person God created that lives in that body in the mirror.
Creating Balance in an Unbalanced World
Posted by: | CommentsWhat do we mean by balance? Many times, we think that to achieve balance we must reach a state that insures, once and for all, that we have everything in our lives managed, family, work, friends, social life, etc.
This may be good, but probably impossible to maintain due to constant changes that occur. Think of standing an egg on end or watching a spinning gyro. These examples illustrate two kinds of balance: static and dynamic.
Static balance is delicate and motionless; dynamic balance involves movement and change. We need both, but of the two dynamic balance is the more important. It is the eye of the hurricane–the still small voice that is heard above the lion’s roar.
