“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” - Philo
Here is your friendly reminder today that when someone is not proactive in their relationship with you, when someone is creating distance in your friendship, when someone is quieter than normal… when that person isn’t paying much attention to you.. that it is not always because of you.
Too often in life we feel as though people are attacking our character through the way they unintentionally treat us. Here’s what I mean by that… Not everything that affects you or hurts your feelings is a result of something you did or someone trying to hurt your feelings.
I’m not saying that there people don’t intentionally try to hurt you… because that can absolutely happen…
But most of us assume that is happening way more than it does in actuality.
Because here is the truth….
People are thinking about themselves way more than they are thinking about you… We all think about ourselves more often than we would like to admit… If you were honest… on any given day the way people experience you is directly connected to the internal battle you are facing that day.
Try this today… The second an interaction with someone in your space goes south, respond with a compassionate thought. Don’t let your mind swirl down the toilet bowl of insecurity, or anger, or revenge, or envy…
Just be intentional about having a compassionate thought towards him/her.
Build in your life what I call “positive regard” for the people around you and the internal or hidden situations that they are working through.
You may have heard it said this way… the benefit of the doubt.
At the end of the day, this is what Kindness and Compassion looks like practically in your everyday!
Here’s what I know… that in my darkest moments, I need people around me who have positive regard toward me, and extend the benefit of the doubt towards me when I haven’t yet found the courage to share the battles I face. Today, you can be that friend for someone.
