Forgiveness is hard. That is probably why Jesus spent so much talking about this concept. It is hard to forgive others when they have hurt us. But I believe that our bigger challenge is learning how to forgive ourselves. I personally struggle with forgiving myself. There are mistakes that I made even 35 years ago…

In life, you’ll find that others think that they know what is best for you. You might hear, “You should socialize more.” Or someone might tell you, “You should be more ambitious.” Or people might advise you to get married or have kids. Folks love to tell other folks what they should be doing with…

No one likes to be criticized. No one likes to be the subject of gossip or receive insults. But we all react differently to the negative behavior of others. I spent most of my life being very sensitive. If someone said something mean to me or merely insinuated that I was unattractive, unintelligent or unsuccessful,…

Conventional wisdom says that if you want to be a good person, you shouldn’t ever get angry. You shouldn’t ever be frustrated or irritated. Instead, you should be like a happy Buddha, observing the world with an amused benevolence. However, I believe that there is value to getting angry. There is value to being annoyed…

More from Beliefnet and our partners
More from Beliefnet and our partners