Love Dare Day Nine

(3rd Feb)

LOVE CREATES GOOD IMPRESSIONS
How do I greet Liz? The author asks how I greet others? Friends? Colleagues? Strangers? Don't we give them warm & polite greetings, usually with a big smile (I guess partly because we were taught to be polite, and partly because something inside us wants to be well accepted also).

The author then asks the pertinent question:
Doesn't your spouse deserve the same? Times ten?

Most days I come home, my routine is as follows:
As soon as I'm in the door, I say "Hello";
I greet each person in some way.
I hug Jess & Lizzie if they come to greet me, or kiss them on their heads if they are seated doing homework.
I kiss Liz on the head or cheek, whatever is appropriate for the moment. I stop and ask how she is.
I ask people how their day was. I then usually make a cup of tea for Liz and myself (unless someone else has already done so).

This is in some form my usual homecoming. Occasionally (rare because we are not financially well-off) I will bring Liz a rose or a card as well.

Now please recall my note on Jan 1. Day One, Patience. Notice that this was the start of my third time through this journey called The Love Dare. I read the chapter on Patience on the way to work. On the way home I read over my notes in my i-Phone (which is where I usually prepare my blogs). Then I fell and hurt myself getting off the bus, misinterpreted something Liz said, and came home irritable. How foolish!

But do you know (I am saying this to emphasize the importance of impressions and greetings), with all the many nice greetings I give, the greeting from that impatient, grumpy homecoming 9 days ago created a negative experience for my family that undid some of my positive work.

It is so very important that we ALWAYS give our best, and NEVER allow ourselves to less than it. How I behave at home affects the ones I love.

I am suitably chastened by this experience. All I really want is to give my best to all my family. To greet ALL of them with warmth and acceptance. To let them all know they are valued and appreciated. And loved. That is my choice. That is what I fully intend to keep doing.

The author states that how I greet my family tells them they are valued. I can increase or decrease their sense of self worth by the way I treat them. How do I treat them? Some better than others, I fear! Time for me to fix that too!!!