I got back to writing whilst I was recovering from Covid in the last week of April and first week of May. I set up this site and wrote my first article on May 6. And today I complete a 100 days of posting every single day! And coincidentally this 100th day falls on my birthday!
Today’s quote summarises a majority of my posts and is also something I strive to put into practice as much as possible. But here are some of the pointers I have for myself for each of these four lines
Live
without Pretending
Stop pretending to be someone you’re not.
Stop pretending to have things you don’t.
Stop pretending and start living.
Love
without Depending
Love with no strings attached.
Don’t love with a dependence on others loving us back.
Manipulation is not love.
Listen
without Defending
Listen with an open mind and heart
Listen with the goal of sharing, uplifting, and being loving and respectful–always.
Take into consideration the other person’s feelings, positions, fears, frustrations, and desires.
Don’t listen defensively or offensively. Just listen.
Speak
without Offending
Don’t be mean and spiteful
Don’t let your words slice and dice anyone
Stop listening defensively to stop speaking offensively
Living, Loving, Listening, and Speaking in a healthy manner requires lots of self-control, self-reflection, self-respect, self-worth, and self-esteem. When these are low or non-existent then all you have in your life is chaos and disruption, negativity and destruction.
I am a work in progress, better than what I used to be but far from where I need to be. Hoping I can get closer to where I need to be this year by living without pretending, loving without depending, listening without defending and speaking without offending! 🙂
Kenrick Vaz 