The humps we see in others...a valuable lesson!!!

Good morning and happy Thursday and happy birthday to me...looking back when I turned 20 I thought 50 seemed forever far and away...now I am 51 and 70 is not looking far and away. My life has changed drastically over the last few years, the comfort I thought I would have for the remainder of my life...left...and I have found that the comfort I had was not really comfort at all, yes I was able to do basically anything I wanted to do within reason...from a financial stand point...and today I have to literally watch every penny that we have, and it usually winds up that I watch it go out the window on bills and we struggle until the next pay check just to watch it go for bills again....NOT complaining, at least we have it to pay our bills, we have a cute little roof over our heads and thus far have had a wonderful little window unit to keep us cool from the summer heat...more than this I have LOVE in my life, true, honest, LOVE. For the first time in my life I am totally at peace, I have a wonderful daughter who loves me without question, I have a grandson that I am fortunate to see pictures of each day, I have a husband who treats me as if I were a queen, he is my best friend, my help mate, my soul mate, my care giver...he is amazing and I am in awe each day of his spirit and his faith. I have friends in abundance who cheer me on cloudy day, who support me in what I love most...writing...I have God who never gives up on me, even when I give up on myself, I have Jesus Christ who saw enough in me to give his life for me and I have the Holy Spirit who leads and guides me each day. When the phrase "less is more" was coined, I think the "coiner" did not realize the magnitude that it would have...I pray your day is going well and that you will find time to have a slice of cake today and think of me...:)

I read this story and found myself really thinking about this...let me know what you think!!!!!

The Humps We See In Others

I don't know about you, but I don't spend a great deal of time worrying about how I appear to other people. I know I'm not perfect. Far from it. But I figure that there is an upside to my own flaws, faults and imperfections: for one thing, they seem to bring joy to others. Maybe that's reason enough not to over-polish. 

Or maybe it's just that I underestimate the seriousness of my own shortcomings. I might be like the man who was driving a car with a bumper sticker that read, "Hang up and drive." A police officer was pleased to spot the sticker, as she had witnessed too many accidents caused by motorists talking on cell phones. Wanting to signal her approval to the driver, she pulled up alongside the car. But when she glanced over, she was dismayed to see him peering into his rear-view mirror and shaving. At least he wasn't talking on his mobile phone. 

Maybe it is just easier to spot the flaws in others. It's like the camel. An African proverb states, "The camel never sees its own hump, but that of its brother is always before its eyes." I probably don't see my own humps very clearly. Or, as writer Margaret Halsey once said, "Whenever I dwell for any length of time on my own shortcomings, they gradually begin to seem mild, harmless, rather engaging little things, not at all like the staring defects in other people's characters." 

So I can appreciate the story of an elderly couple who, while on an automobile trip, stopped at a roadside restaurant for lunch. The woman left her eye glasses on the table, but didn't miss them until they were back on the highway. And, of course, it was difficult to turn around by then. Her husband fussed and complained all the way back to the restaurant about her "always leaving her glasses" behind. They finally arrived, and as the woman got out of the car to retrieve her glasses, the old man said, "While you're in there, you may as well get my hat, too." 

Psychologist Carl Jung puts a powerful spin on this phenomenon of seeing other's faults more clearly than our own. He teaches that "everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves." Or, put another way, the humps we can't help but seeing in others are a lot like the humps others see in us. Or, perhaps they are like the humps we see in ourselves. 

So, what would happen if we'd look at other people's faults and humps as a gift? After all, they're teaching us about ourselves. 

And that's what makes us different from camels.