7th attempt at sharing

Had loads of fun doing an early McDonald's breakfast and catching up on the latest with Sis, Chick and Hwei yesterday morning (yes, 9am is considered early for a SAT breakfast. Haha!)... and then had such a blast in the evening with Faye, SH and Wens at the miniest, cosiest and healthiest BBQ. Sis and Mr. Jang were totally blown away by the stuff that Faye prepared, and I must say that the food was really one of the nicest that I have tasted. And yes, the company was superb. Like I said, the attendance was small in quantity but good in quality. Too bad Alice and Lil can't join us, but am sure they were too having loads of fun somewhere else in the world with their husbands...

This week's sermon is on anger, which was again a very relevant and real topic. There are so much unintended consequences when we unleash our anger on someone else. We might regret and apologise later, but most of the time what is done cannot be undone. And if the person is unable to handle the hurt properly, those angry words can destroy and scar him/her for the rest of his/her life. Worse, it is likely that he/she would repeat the same action/words to another person, and this would eventually become a vicious cycle.

What spoke to me was Rev Song's example of a parent saying harsh things to a child, either because he/she is angry, or because he/she wants to use the reverse pyschology to "encourage" the child. Either way, this could hurt the emotional development of the child. I said this spoke to me because my mom had quite a nasty temper when she was young and I recalled very clearly that there was once where she said "why are you so useless? why do you like to make people hate you?" I think she really didn't mean it, and I was admittedly a super recalcitrant child. But that left something on me till this day, and though I don't blame her for it, there are still some parts of me that couldn't really let go. And hence perhaps, the constant need to try to seek approval (by being more responsible?) and never feeling that I am good enough or have done enough... :/

That said, I also need to remind myself that I need to exercise patience towards her. As parents grow older, they tend to be a bit more sensitive and childish (Rev's words... not mine.. haha!) and hence, we need to remember to hold back irritable words and learn to refrain from lashing out at people.

Not easy actually, but shall try my best...