From The Daily Dialogue
From The Daily Dialogue
Broadcast of 9/15/98
Subject: [DailyDialogue #258] Frustration
"Do not force others, including children, by any means whatsoever, to adopt your views, whether by authority, threat, money, propaganda, or even education. However, through compassionate dialogue, help others renounce fanaticism and narrowness.
- Thich Nhat Hanh, From the 14 precepts of The Order of Interbeing
Yesterday, I found myself feeling exasperated when I visited my son’s remodeling project. His contractor is promising unrealistic progress, then failing to show up on the job site to make progress at all. My son is on the receiving end of over-promising and failing to deliver.
When a loved one is frustrated by others in his life, I am tempted to encourage her/him to take some kind of assertive action to overcome the frustration. I want to make a suggestion about how he could get others to cooperate or shape up.
I notice that this situation also brings my own tendency to over-commit into sharp focus. Perhaps that’s an additional reason that I find myself feeling quite upset about my son’s contractor.
Experiment: Affirm out loud to your loved ones that they are enough to learn mastery through the frustrations that are present in their lives at this time.
Affirmation: I am releasing my childhood mission of keeping my loved ones happy through my heroic efforts
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The Daily Dialogue is published each day of 1998 by e-mail. Copyright 1998, Eddy Brame and Marty Crouch, All rights reserved.
