Evydense: Bear Hugs

“The price of hating other human beings is loving one's self less.” - anon

“True friendship is self-love at secondhand.” - William Hazlitt

“What do you call love, hate, charity, revenge, humanity, magnanimity, forgiveness? Different results of the one master impulse: the necessity of securing one's self-approval.” - Mark Twain

"I must learn to love the fool in me the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries.” - Theodore Isaac Rubin

A party of hunters were sitting around their fire starting to get their supper ready, when they thought they heard a noise in the bushes. They grabbed their rifles and, in their excitement, temporarily forgot about their meal. Shooting a buck was what they were there for in the first place after all.

Presently, an old bear crept out of the woods, attracted by the fire, and seeing the kettle with its lid dancing on top, promptly seized it. Naturally, it burnt and scalded him badly; but instead of dropping it instantly, he proceeded to hug it tightly --- this being a bear's normal means of defense. Of course, the tighter he hugged it, the more it burned him; and obviously the more it burned him the tighter he hugged it; and so on in a vicious circle to the undoing of the bear.

This is exactly how we amplify our own difficulties. We hug them to our bosoms by constantly rehearsing them to ourselves and others, and by continually dwelling on them in every possible manner, instead of dropping them once and for all so the wound would have a chance to heal.

Whenever you catch yourself thinking about your grievances, say to yourself sternly, "Bear Hugs Kettle", and think about your blessings instead. You will be surprised how quickly some long-standing wounds will disappear.

- from the writings of Edgar Guest (modified a wee tiny bit by Evydense!)

....and just to close with a bit of an informal survey:

Does anyone ever read the quotes at the beginning of my blogs? Just curious ;)

PEACE.