WorldWide Drilling Resource

39 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® JANUARY 2014 Relationship Tips by Tim Connor Unconditional Acceptance "Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes revenge, and dares forgive an injury." E.H. Chapin One of the biggest challenges in relationships is the unconditional accept- ance of another’s beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Having had a number of rela- tionships with a variety of people - friends, employees, clients, children, spouses, supervisors, suppliers, and audience members - I can tell you from vast first- hand experience, some people are easy to accept while others can bring us over the top of the emotional barometer when it comes to stress, anger, and their abil- ity to push our buttons. What is unconditional acceptance? I am not referring to what John Powell discusses in his great book Unconditional Love . Love and acceptance can go hand in hand and each of us can have a vari- ety of relationships where there is no romantic or family love, but we need to find it within ourselves to have uncon- ditional acceptance. I am not a psychologist or profes- sional educator, so my definitions might differ from some professionals. You can buy them, resent them, reject them, like them, endorse them, whatever. My main goal is the hope they will make you think. To me, unconditional acceptance means: • A lack of judgments. • A lack of unrealistic expectations. • An awareness that everyone is doing the best they can with what they have at any given time in their life. • An understanding that everyone is on their own path, learning what they need to learn as they pass from one day to the next. • Knowing I don’t have to agree with them about everything or any- thing. • Accepting my ways, opinions, atti- tudes, etc. do not have to be shared by anyone. • Recognizing the human experi- ence is more or less difficult for some people. • Understanding everyone has a unique emotional outlook. • Accepting everyone has a life story or experiences that are unique- ly theirs. • There is no right or wrong, but perceptions are a major part of how each of us sees the world. • Seeing the positives in the other person. • Knowing everyone has their own personal dramas, demons, angels, dreams, hopes, fears, and frustra- tions. In His service, Tim To receive Tim’s weekly FREE motivational booster articles, contact him at www.timconnor.com with “please add me to your free booster e-mail subscriber list” in the subject line. Or contact him via e-mail at admin@ worldwidedrillingresource.com