Similarity

DAILY WISDOM WORD for 2/11/14       SIMILARITY                    by Samantha LeBoeuf

It feels wonderful to be writing, and my hope as always is to touch on something that is helpful to whomever reads this.

I find, in this world we focus on our differences more that our similarities.  If we are all honest
with each other, we are more alike than unique. What do I mean when I say this?

There are different stages we all go through in life, and depending on what those stages are,
we behave in ways similar to one another.  How so?

We may get a bonus or promotion at work, and all of us, are probably going to display happiness and elation or we see a long lost relative, we will all most likely, (unless it is our in-laws), Lol, experience joy.

There are also many similarities in the way we cope with loss.  There are different ways to lose someone.

If we lose someone,  through a death, perhaps a relative, we experience profound sadness.  There is the loss of a parent or child, God forbid in our lives, or we are close to someone who this happens to, it is MORE important than ever, to remember our similarities.  By remembering we are similar, that we will all experience grief and sadness at some point in our lives, (the beautiful spectrum of emotions God has allowed us to feel) , we can RELATE to, or help others.  We can also stop ourselves from shutting out the help others want to give us, and can.  Why?  because we know they are capable of the very same emotions and would experience the tragedy or happiness with the emotional  similarities we all have.

 Another example?  We have a personal relationship, along our journey in life, a person who we are attached to, but, we stop growing together with that person, and instead apart, and we lose them when the lesson that we and them learn is finished, we all eventually have to say goodbye, and we all experience sadness.  By remembering our similarities to that person we realize they are saying goodbye to, we experience empathy, rather than anger.  Instead of focusing on this loss alone, we know instead we are not, and they are sad as well.

How else are we alike?  Most importantly, we not only experience similar  "emotions", like happiness and pain, but we experience similarities in our, "reactions".  We all have certain similarities to one another with
our reactions to being startled, or tickled, or our laugh when something is humorous.

 Have you ever felt that someone is so different from you in your life, and you have a problem with one another, and you both sit down to talk through it, but your getting nowhere?  You feel "so frustrated", and are certain the two of you will never get past this problem?  When you feel this way, remember this:  OUR SIMILARITIES.

My thoughts are this:  if we all shift our focus to our SIMILARITIES, rather than our DIFFERENCES, we will not only have a better co-existence with others;  More importantly, when we are feeling  the frustration, that the other person we are communicating with, "just isn't hearing us", we at least can remember that they are still experiencing the same similarities with their reaction to the problem!  We then begin to shift our focus on the solution, instead of the problem itself.

I believe it is far more productive for all of us to focus on our similarities, than our differences.
Our world, by remembering our similarities, will be at far more peaceful place, and so will we....SL