MORNING COFFEE

[Guest guest]

Face Conflict with Confidence

by Jane “Are you avoiding conflict?†Do you avoid speaking your mind because you don’t want to rock the boat? Do you feel it’s just easier to avoid conflict? When you don’t take initiative and express your own wants and needs, others make decisions for you – and chances are, they won’t always make the decisions you want! If this goes on long enough, you will start to feel misunderstood or taken for granted. Anger and resentment will grow and you’ll eventually erupt. You are the only one who can decide to change this behavior! Next time you’re asked what you want, don’t rush to say you don’t care. Stop and ask yourself, “What do I want?†Then, share it with conviction.

What will I give to the world today?

What will I give to the world today? What will I add to the experiences of the people with whom I have contact on this day? I can't say for sure just whom I'll deal with today, but I can decide right now whether I want my contribution to this day to be positive or negative, helpful or hurtful, constructive or destructive, uplifting or not.

Today, I want to contribute pleasantness whenever I meet someone, whether I know them or not. I don't have to wear a pasted-on smile in order to be pleasant, but I do have to avoid sarcasm or judgment. When people receive my pleasantness, it may be the first pleasantness of their day, so I'll try to be very pleasant.

I'd also like to contribute kindness to this new day. This means that I must use words that are kind and act in a kindly way, avoiding looks and actions and words that simply are not kind. Perhaps someone will appreciate this kindness and pass it on to someone else.

I'd also like to contribute encouragement. I'll have plenty of opportunities to do so. And if I am encouraging, it may just happen that someone else finds the strength and courage to continue something very important to them.

I'll try my best to contribute praise and avoid criticism. If the praise is sincere, I may just be able to make someone else feel better about him or herself.

I want to contribute peacefulness. If I can face all of my duties and problems with a quiet confidence, looking calmly for solutions rather than complaining about the way things are, I can act as a role model for peacefulness. In this way at least I won't be adding to the stressful input of those people who are around me.

It would be nice if I could also contribute some hope to this day, for someone, somewhere. It could be in the form of letting them know that I've been through what they have, and things worked out okay, or in the form of helping them to see the strengths they have that will help them to do what they need to do. Either way, the hope they get can be very valuable for them.

There's a whole day ahead of me, today, tomorrow, and the next day. What I contribute to each of these days is, in short, my contribution to the world. So what am I going to do? Shall I contribute to the positive energy of the world, or to the negative? The choice always is mine.

Thanks Marcella

You matter The fear you have about being insignificant is a deception. As long as you have the courage to act, you will matter.

Your actions may very well fall short of the goal. You may pick yourself up and make another attempt, giving the entirety of your focus and energy to it, and fall short again.

Even so, you matter very much. You are unique and beautiful in your very own way and always able to take the next step, to make some kind of a difference, and to have an influence.

If you’re even the slightest bit ambitious, it will take many attempts and will demand much of you. Don’t punish or disrespect yourself for that.

Just keep going. You have something important and meaningful to do, so keep going until you get it done.

Then set your sights on an even more ambitious goal and quickly begin moving confidently toward it. You do indeed matter, you can always make a difference, and doing so is what will bring the fulfillment you seek. Ralph Marston

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