You have permission to
publish this article electronically
or in print, free of
charge, as long as the bylines are
included. A courtesy
copy of your publication would be
appreciated - send to:
GregReid@AlwaysGood.com
Intent
Over the past few
months, things in my life have been better than
ever. New home, new
friends, and wonderful career. Yet I found
myself
uncharacteristically asking, “Self, why am I feeling so
frustrated? Why am I
getting upset at the smallest of
situations?”
I did a little digging
(soul searching, if you will) and realized
that as wonderful as
things were going at the moment, like most
of us, I had some
unfinished business out there.
There were a handful of
people and negative relationships that
were still on my mind
and wanted to do something about it.
What I came up with was
the realization that out of all the
people or things I was
angry with, none of them (did I believe)
truly meant to cause me
harm. In other words, they had no intent
for malice; it was only
the interpretation of the event or
situation that caused me
anger and pain.
Think about this for a
second. How many times have you gotten
into arguments over the
silliest of things, only to later realize
how foolish you were
being and to acknowledge that you’d simply
gotten caught up in the
moment?
After pondering this
question for a bit, I decided to do
something I should have
done long ago. I thought about the few
relationships in my life
that were less than perfect or had ended
on a sour note. I then
committed myself to research what had
caused the upheaval and
to do my best to rectify the
relationships that
lacked a harmful intent.
I asked myself whether
my ex-wife had really intended to slander
me with the things she
said, or whether she’d been speaking
through her frustration
and uncertainty of losing a relationship
that she had shared for
over half her lifetime. Had my father
intended to discard our
relationship, or was he simply avoiding
me to save himself from
having to deal with his own ex-wife who
may have said some
terrible things to him as well?
Get the picture?
Now, as personal as this
is, I share it with you this month
because what happened
next was truly amazing. By taking action
toward repairing the
past and eliminating the negative feelings I
was carrying, I
rekindled some of the best relationships I’d ever
known.
Look, I’m not asking you
to play God and pretend to know what
people think. However,
you can use common sense and make an
educated guess. For
example, if someone borrows your car and
crashes it, ask yourself
whether they meant to do it. More than
likely, they didn’t, so
why end a relationship over it? However,
if someone takes a bat
to your car and smashes it to pieces,
you’re probably safe in
assuming they had a negative intent.
Now let me ask you, do
you have any relationships that may have
been severed from an
accident or misunderstanding? In retrospect,
do you think the person
truly intended to destroy, upset, or
provoke you? Was a bat
involved, or just angry words and
misguided thoughts? If
you can’t find evidence of a harmful
intent, pick up the
phone, say hello, and let go of your
resentment.
Let it go, let it go-
let it go.
Keep Smilin',
- 30 -
By: Keynote Speaker Gregory
Scott Reid
GregReid@AlwaysGood.com
Speaker and two-time #1
best-selling author,
The Millionaire Mentor and
Wake Up: Live the Life You Love