Embracing differences

What if we knew that everyone, every single person is doing the best they can do at any given moment?

Don’t we all have our moments? In some moments we are at our best and in some we aren’t. I know that some days I have more to give as a wife, mom, grandma, friend, and human than others.

We all come from different backgrounds, different experiences, and different thoughts and ways to express those thoughts. We find countless ways to point out our differences. We do this by making judgments, negative social media posts, nasty comments, and closing ourselves off from the idea that there is value in sharing our beliefs. This does not mean sharing to change the other person’s mind. It’s just sharing to let others know where we’re coming from.

What if we spent as much time looking for our sameness as our differences?

What if we focus on our commonalities? That doesn’t mean we agree on everything, it just means we focus on what we understand about each other. When we can do that, our differences seem less significant. We find understanding and EMPATHY.

Today more than ever, we need to practice empathy.

Empathy is a gift for you and the other person. We don’t have to agree with someone to extend empathy. Empathy connects us through understanding another’s emotions. We have all felt frustrated, sad, angry, hopeless, and many other emotions. Recognizing that others have emotions and don’t deal with them in the same way we do helps us understand they are doing the best they can in the moment and so are we. I believe that this is a great way to extend grace to ourselves and others.

We don’t all have to be friends and agree on everything.

I think it’s the contrast in life that teaches us the most valuable lessons. Without contrast, we might not have a clear understanding of what we believe. Others who show us what we don’t want or believe can be instrumental in sparking a passion within us. Isn’t that a good thing?

What if we took the opportunity we have to live our passion and share our beliefs instead of focusing on what ‘they’ are doing wrong? Sharing our vision of what we want our world to be is inspiring and gives others permission to do the same.

The change we wish to see in the world starts within.

What if we give as much attention to solutions as we give to our problems?

When we change the world changes.

When we change the world changes.