Do you have enemies?

Photo by: rrllmm392 

Do you have enemies?

Do you? How do you define the word ENEMY? In our age of divisiveness, one can find plenty of enemies…OR, not…

 For you, are your enemies people?  This month, I’d like you to stop seeing people as enemies and take a look at a different type of enemy.  But before we look at what those enemies are, let me ask you a question:

What do enemies do?

Here’s how I would answer that question.

Enemies PILLAGE…

Enemies rob, kill and destroy…

They rob us of joy and contentment. They can kill hopes and dreams. And they can destroy relationships.

So, having said that, instead of, Who is my enemy, let’s look at What is my enemy?

I want to list three:

Noise, Hurry and More…

Those may seem like odd things to label as enemies, but maybe take some time to be quiet, slow down and get somewhere alone to process these thoughts I’m about to share.

 NOISE: If I’m honest sometimes I use noise to drown out the silence. When I do that, what am I missing?

 HURRY: Isn’t the American way to value my worth by how busy I am? Again, being honest, how many meals a week do I eat standing up? How much multi-tasking (oh, and isn’t it un-American to resist multi-tasking?) do I do? What if I sat down to eat and slowed down and enjoyed (even SAVORED) my food? What if I focused more, as Curly said in City Slickers, on

The One thing…

MORE: Another personal confession: More is where I discover my demons – my personal “addictions.” The law of diminishing returns rules the day. If one chocolate chip cookie is good, 10 more must be better, right? If I once thought one million dollars was “enough,” why wouldn’t five million be better? More is a deceiver. The arrow on the road marked, “More” never ends. In my life, over and over again, MORE is the enemy of ENOUGH and the arch-enemy of CONTENTMENT.

 If ever there is a time when the three enemies – Noise, Hurry and More– can do a lot of robbing, killing and destroying, it’s around the holidays.

 How about this holiday season we commit to NOT letting the enemy win the battle? How about we put the “gifts” of

Quiet, Slow and Enough

Under the tree? Take time to breathe this year. You’ll be glad you did!