Forgiveness is not just for major wrongs. (Click image for video)

No one is too important to say 

“I’m sorry.” 

We’re in the grocery store, pushing our shopping cart around the end of the aisle when we suddenly come face to face with another person doing the same thing. Narrowly avoiding a collision, we both smile, murmur “Sorry!”, and good-naturedly negotiate around each other.

See how easy it is?

When we’re not captivated by thoughts of self-importance, we can freely act like civil human beings.

Why can’t this happen all the time?

Is it because apologizing to someone who is less influential or wealthy would be demeaning? And so Mr. All-important doesn’t consider it necessary to apologize, for anything. How sad. Too often, people prance around with inflated egos due to their current good fortune, which they incorrectly credit to being more clever than others. No one is so important that he doesn’t need to apologize for uncivil behavior.

Better to say “I’m sorry” now than be sorry in the future when our past arrogance and misdeeds catch up with us.  

Words have the power to destroy . . . (Click image for video)

Habits are like an old, familiar path.  

Having a habit, to me, is like striding along a familiar path, perhaps on the way to the market or in the park. Having taken a path many times, we feel confident when on it again. Paying no heed to what’s happening, we just keep moving, our mind on other things.

Acting from habits is very similar. Having done something repeatedly, we proceed without thinking, convinced that what we’re doing is just fine. Hopefully, the day will come when we look around and realize that we have been making mistakes. Indeed, this approach hasn’t really worked all that well for us. And so we attempt to make corrections.

But doing things differently is not easy.

And so we flounder, blundering first in one direction and then in another in our attempts to act more mindfully. As long as we remain patient with the process and we persevere, we will form new—and better—habits. We’ll reach the point where our actions once more are confident.

And correct.