Setting Boundaries

How often do you agree to do something you don’t want to do because you don’t know how to say no? How many unwelcome behaviours have you tolerated to keep the peace instead of confronting the other person? While giving in helps us avoid immediate unpleasantness, it often results in a build-up of anger and [...]

Pruning the Grapevine: Good vs Bad Gossip

Some of my readers have been wondering if I’m ok because I’m posting less lately. I’ve been very well actually, and making new friends. The bad news is that I’ve found myself gossiping more than usual with this new found circle. With every social group, it takes time to ascertain where the boundaries lie – [...]

How to Give SMART Encouragement

How wonderful it is to encourage others, yet how often we find fault instead. Most people are better at criticising than encouraging, simply because we engage more often in the former. I spent years learning how to encourage instead of put down. For a while my mantra was “Praise, Not Perfect.” At first, it was [...]

Greetings! But Let’s Not Shake Hands…

Hello everyone! I’ve been busy with moving house and work, and lost the blogging momentum as a result. Thanks to those who took the trouble to send messages and emails asking how I’ve been. I am grateful for your friendship. I recently returned from Thailand, where I think they have the most gracious greeting etiquette [...]

The Gift of Community

“I am a part of all that I have met.”

- Alfred Tennyson

photo credit: striatic

Where does the word ‘community’ come from and what does it mean? Understanding the literal components of the word may helps us in choosing our communities and contributing meaningfully to them.

‘Community’ is the modern English derivative of the Latin communitas, which is a combination of two Latin root words:

cum: ‘together’ or ‘with’
munus: ‘gift’ or ‘exchange’

So community literally means coming together to share our gifts. Let’s look at the two components to building community, whether that community be your marriage, family, workplace, friends, or religious group:

Making the effort to initiate or maintain contact
Sharing gifts to build a mutually beneficial relationship

8 Defenses Against Nasty People

Being the flawed persons we all are, you will not like everybody you come across, and not everybody will like you. No matter how hard you try, there will occasions when people are nasty to you when you did nothing to provoke them. Every now and then, someone will give you unsolicited criticism, send you [...]

keep looking »