Learning from Kids

What? You gotta be kidding me. I've had so many experiences and you expect me to learn something about loving from kids? Absolutely!

Three areas that I'd like to highlight we can learn from them;
1) Faith
As a child (whom I was once before), I'd look up to my parents not just for approval but even for guidance in the way I behaved, spoke and lived my life. How can this be applied to my relationship? The spouse that you chose (whom I believe is your best friend of life) will surely open up and offer advices on becoming a better person to them and the family. Many a times, we feel as if we're being run down but let's take it in the right manner - if our spouse can't be frank and honest with us, who can? So trust and have faith that your spouse wants the best for you and would be delighted to support you throughout making some positive adjustments.

2) Energy
Do you ever wonder where your kid/someone else's kid's energy come from? It's like boundless and never seems to stop once their excitement is raised. It's true we will drown in our weariness after a hard day’s work - where can I find that extra energy to communicate constructively with my spouse? Our bodies are magnificent creation - the more we practice using them, the better we become. Stretch your minds a little, your body has the capacity to go further (even as I'm writing this, my eyelids are almost shutting down on me), give of your best to your spouse daily. You never know one kind word can create so much encouragement for them.
You're in control of your mind and body, not the reverse. You can do it, try it.

3) Risk taking
Certainly as long as it's not life and death do it, I'd advocate that to my kids. Kids try a lot of stuff, their inquisitive nature makes them unique and their learning process is improved dramatically with risk taking. Sometimes, we're so concerned with what our spouses may think of us. I've often told the younger ones - as long as it doesn't harm anyone, do it! Take risk with your spouse to attempt some fun, exciting things together which can produce the adrenalin rush. It's been confirmed via research that it bonds the couple more after these activities. By saying this, I'm not referring to extreme sports but those which both have not tried and are willing to give a go. As long as it doesn't harm anyone - DO IT!

"To love what you do and feel that it matters - how could anything be more fun?"

Perserverence Part II

This is in reference to the post on Nov 11.

Let's imagine we're running a long distance race (21 km) instead of a marathon (42 km, in order to get to the finish line won't we have to push ourselves and tell our body and mind that we can do it? We will sum up the energy and courage to complete the race trying to finish within a certain number or timing. When we achieve that, we feel elated and tell ourselves "I've done it, YES!" Certainly that involves plenty of time, dedicated practice, pain and courage.

Let's put that into our marriages context - isn't this a race too that we want to run till the end? But why is it that most couples take the easy way out of breaking up upon onset of few misunderstanding? Instead of ironing out the differences, we provoke and hurt each other further, eventually imploding within ourselves and forget about how we actually took time to build the strong foundation of togetherness before. Goals built together seem so distant now and eventually falls apart.

I'm sure all of us love our other half just as ourselves. Let's use that time, dedicated practice, pain and courage to see & work out to the completion of this wonderful journey we were committed to initially.