Weekly inspirations Week 1: Different yet the same

   We tell children people are different. Some are young, others are old, some are short and others tall, so on and so forth, but many times we forget an essential part: we all have the same needs.

   If our needs are met, we are happy. That's what I want to talk about today. No matter who we are, how poor or how rich, how young or how old, you have to admit we all want to be happy. This is what unites us and this is also the reason for most of our problems... because we think all people reach happiness exactly the same. Do they though?
   Human relationships involve work. A lot of it. The thing is that we feel hurt so easily that we abandon ship asap without taking some time to understand that sometimes people see the same problem from a different perspective. 

   How about acknowledging that happiness can mean something else for different people, start accepting that and allow the people around us be happy on their own terms? Why does a friend or a family member have to achieve happiness following our path? I know we love them and maybe we think we have the magical key for happiness... but that key works for our lock. How about letting them find their own key?
   Let's set peple free of our expectations and rules especially because we love them. They will reach happiness in their own way and they will love us even more for it. How beautiful does that sound? :) Happiness all around!

Day 236. Different

   Today I reflected upon the fact that arguments start because different people have different needs and they understand life differently. They have different expectations, a different life experience, different settings where they grew up. Many things seem to be different, huh? That's why we surround ourselves with friends. They are the only ones who are LIKE us. The ones we won't argue with because they seem to understand us. That's why arguments between friends end faster and better than the ones between co-workers.

   The fact that my mom has different needs than I do at my age makes it hard for her to understand me sometimes. I try to explain to her how I see life at 25 but I can tell she doesn't grasp the essence of it because at her age she's married, with a household to look after and everything looks different at 50. You're not interested in looking for a partner anymore, settling down or building a career. You do get wiser so that's why trivial things like buying new earrings once every two months seems useless, but the real challenge is exactly this: How can we get to be 50 and still understand our kids and their different needs than the ones we grew up with? How can we stop judging them for wanting an Ipad when we grew up without even a computer? Hmmm...