How do you react to someone who’s crying? What if they’re angry or upset about something? I know how I used to respond to situations like this.

I would respond by trying to fix it for them. If the person is angry at a situation they found themselves in I’d try to fix it for them. If they were crying or sad about something, I’d convince them it’s OK and not worth crying over. I have always been a good talker, so it wasn’t that hard to fix things by talking them through it.

Or so I thought. The reality is when I was thinking I was fixing a situation for another person, the only person I was fixing it for was me. After all, I found it uncomfortable when someone was in one of these emotional states. 

What I’ve come to know is when I fix things for people, they never develop their strengths. It means when they encounter the problem again, things don’t get better. In fact, the very thing that I want for them might just be getting a little worse if anything.

Thought of the week

“Catch a person a fish, and you feed them for a day. Teach a person to fish, and you feed them for the rest of their life.” 

The next time you’re with someone who’s angry, upset or crying try this question on for size: Are you about to catch this person a fish, or would you rather teach them to fish? 

When something has got you stop and get curious about what’s going on. What is it like being in this state of upset? How are you is causing your situation, and how do you continue forward with it? This is how we learn to live our lives no matter what might come our way.