by Merci Gracia | Nov 13, 2020 | Love
Real love isn’t controlling. It supports others in being how they want to be rather than pressuring them into behaving the way we want them to. It isn’t possessive or jealous. It’s allowing and accepting. It doesn’t demand the fulfillment of a...
by Merci Gracia | Sep 8, 2020 | Love
The approval and validation we seek from others is really a longing for self-approval. In a clumsy effort to learn to love ourselves unconditionally, we seek it from others. The pursuit of trying to win admiration is misguided for, even if we do achieve temporary...
by Merci Gracia | May 26, 2020 | Joy, Love
There’s so much beauty in the world that we often take for granted or even miss it completely in our rush to do, accomplish and acquire. The dramatic, natural shows of dawn and dusk skies, the endless array of amazing flowers and mysterious trees, the beams that...
by Merci Gracia | May 17, 2020 | Compassion, Love
This epidemic challenges us to consider our life and place in the world in an entirely new context. The fact that COVID-19 makes us fear the possibility that we or someone we love might not make it through this provides strong motivation for us to relate to others in...
by Merci Gracia | Feb 16, 2020 | Forgiveness, Love
Resentment is a feeling we conjure, reinforce and suffer from all by ourselves. “She bore bitter feelings of resentment toward her ex-husband.” “He’s filled with resentment at his boss.” It’s clear that resentment is a toxic emotion...
by Merci Gracia | Feb 15, 2020 | Judgments, Love
There’s one kind of love that makes all other types of love possible: Self-love. Until we love ourselves we can’t truly love others. In fact, most of our problems with others stem from issues we have with ourselves because we project our fears,...