Today I am grateful
for all my haters, because they had a hand in shaping who I am today.
I know that one is a weird one but often we lose sight of
the fact that everyone has a role in our development as a person. Often times
relationships go sour because we neglected to pay attention to the terms of the
relationship. I heard a powerful sentiment several years ago, that everyone that
comes into our lives are meant to be there for a reason, season or a lifetime.
The problem is sometimes we confuse which category those people should be in.
Some people should only be in your life for a specific reason to share
something with you or for you to share something with them. Others have a
seasonal term in your life, meaning they are in your life for a reason, but
that reason will take some time to manifest. But often times we as people try
to make everyone a lifetime commitment. When we do that with the wrong people
we end up with failed and bitter relationships that we don’t know how to
handle.
We can become so angry and resentful that it impedes our
growth as a person. But if everyone is in our lives for a reason, then we
should be able to find gratitude for that person and release whatever bad
feelings we harbor for them. In the book “The Magic” there is a quote from Gautama
Buddha (Founder of Buddhism):
Holding on to anger is
like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing at someone else; you are
the one who gets burned.
Today’s practice is finding forgiveness wrapped in
gratitude. Today, look at the relationships in your life that you have strong
negative feelings about. Your goal is to find ten things that you are grateful
for in regards to that relationship. For instance, if you are a single parent
you might not like the other parent however, you can be grateful for the child
that you conceived together. Or if you are struggling with a relationship with a
parent you can be grateful for the fact that you have life because of that
person.
Finding opportunities to be grateful for a person allows
forgiveness to ensue in your life. Forgiveness and gratitude will again (as I
have said in almost all previous posts) open doors for you. The more you hold
on to your hot coals of anger for another the more you get burned and miss out
on more fulfilling relationships that are looking for you.
So today, let’s not only be grateful for our haters, but
also those who we have been hating as well.
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