More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Max Lucado
Read between
December 16 - December 19, 2023
positive emotions increase our awareness, allowing us to see the bigger picture and expand our peripheral vision.
neutral states tend to limit our mind-sets, and negative emotions contract our mind-sets even more so.5
“People have a way of becoming what you encourage them to be—not what you nag them to be.”
She was out of doctors, money, and hope. But worst of all she was out of friends.
How long had it been since someone had listened to her story? Jesus took time to hear her speak.
Do this for someone. Ask someone to tell you his—or her—story. Resist the urge to interrupt or correct. Turn off the television. Log off from the internet. Close your laptop; silence your cell phone. Give the rarest of gifts: your full attention.
“Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out” (1 Thess. 5:15 THE MESSAGE).
Give the gift that God loves to give: the gift of encouragement.
“Be patient . . . , making allowance for each other’s faults” (NLT). “Accept life with humility and patience, making allowances for each other” (PHILLIPS). “Tolerate one another”
Happiness is less an emotion and more a decision, a decision to bear with one another.
I agree tht it is a decision
Anyone who thinks Jesus never cracked a joke hasn’t read these words from the Sermon on the Mount:
If you want to change the world, begin with yourself.
Reduce your number of peeves, and be patient with the people who pet them.
If your happiness depends on the applause and approval of others, you’ll yo-yo up and down,
Happy are the unentitled! Expecting the applause of others is a fool’s enterprise! Do yourself a favor and assume nothing.
make it your aim to celebrate everything good that happens to someone else.
“rejoice with those who rejoice” (Rom. 12:15 NIV)
“You spoke a kind word to me, and it changed my life!”2 What is small to you may be huge to someone else.
A similar study linked hugging with a diminished rate of sickness. The more often people hugged, the less likely they were to get sick.
Experience the joy of showing people they matter.
“people who are more religious and pray more have better mental and physical health.” He went on to say that spiritual people, those who pursue divine assistance, “cope with stress better, they experience greater well-being because they have more hope, they’re more optimistic, they experience less depression, less anxiety, and they commit suicide less often.”
the easiest way to make yourself smile is to make someone else smile first.
We elevate our joy by giving joy to others.
“everyone who was labeled happy was also labeled unselfish.”2 It is in your best interest to look out for the interest of others!
He didn’t tell me to clean up and then come back. He said, “Come back. I’ll clean you up.”
Listening is a healing balm for raw emotions.
Is it possible to have an opinion without having a fit?
It’s better to keep quiet and keep a friend than to be loud and lose one.
“It is foolish to harbor a grudge” (Eccl. 7:9 GNT).
Happiness happens when you offer to others the grace you’ve been given.
Just as hurt people hurt people, loved people love people.
“I get to meet people! Each human is a story. How can you not love a world when it is so full of stories!”
“It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). It is better to forgive than to hold a grudge, . . . better to build up than to tear down, . . . better to include than to exclude, . . . better to seek to understand than to disregard, . . . better to love than to hate.
