Enjoying Each Other's Company: Annoy them with Kindness!

The Holidays can be a difficult time for year for many people. Whether it's due to a loss of a loved one, being alone and not having people to share it with, or the stress inflicted by relatives around you, it is also the time of year we step back and learn to appreciate the simple pleasures in life, such as family, friends, our daily blessings and to become more grateful while giving back to others.

Photo Credit: Zara

Sometimes we forget how to handle the stress of Christmas and New Years that we get caught up in ourselves and our own desires, while forgetting the needs of others. Instead of focusing on the gifts, the food, or the parties, maybe we need to focus on spending time together or going out of our way for someone we have a hard time dealing with. We need to learn to enjoy the company of every person, whether we get along with them or not. We need to annoy them with kindness! You know the saying, "kill them with kindness".

This isn't easy advice for anyone to follow. It might be easier to give our time and money to those we love and show respect in return, but sometimes it means more when we go out of our way to enjoy the company of those who we cannot handle! Enjoy your Christmas Season and take time to think and care for not only those you love but those who might annoy you, but also are deserving of love too.


Sauce of Life Tips:

1.   Pick one person in your life who needs to feel loved and do something extra special for them. Send them flowers, make them cookies or even a funny card in the mail will brighten their day.

2.   Go out of your way to invite someone out for coffee who might annoy you, but needs a shoulder to lean on.

3.   Make extra time for those you love. You might make a small effort here, but don't they deserve your time and attention. Even setting up a date night for you and your significant other or even more fun, schedule a date night for a couple who hasn't had a night out without the kids in awhile.

4.   Truly take the time to listen to someone. Instead of zoning out when someone is seeking advice or even just to be listened to, maybe try to absorb what they are saying and be interested in them.

5.   Learn to love others more than yourself. This might seem obvious, or you are rolling your eyes at this point, but life has enough tragedies, woes and selfish people who want the attention all the time. Take a moment to accept your sufferings, appreciate your blessings and stop dwelling on your own problems, oftentimes you will realize that others have it much worse and are in dire need of a friend.

The New Year's Resolution Trap

Neither of us have really been into New Year's Resolutions.  We make them, kinda, but not how you may imagine.  We don't make them once in the beginning of the year and forget about them.  No, Katrina tries her hardest to continually remind me about them and I sure am glad she does.  I, just like everyone else, gets stuck into the New Year's Resolution Trap!  Is it a good time to make changes in your life just because of the New Year?  Well, maybe...

Credit: Shutterstock

Why does no one ever complete these resolutions?  What's the time frame people keep them?  10 days?  2 weeks? 1  month?  Maybe the pressure of those resolutions are the problem?  Maybe we only make these promises because we feel the pressure from everyone else!  Look on Facebook, people find it necessary to post promises, promises, and more promises.  Maybe it's better not to tell the world, maybe that's the problem...

Or the other type of people make these outlandish proposals: "I resolve to lose."  Lose what?  Your dog, your car, your clothes (maybe you'll come across a new wardrobe)?  A little vague don't you think?

Credit: Purehome Blog

Instead of making resolutions at the beginning of each year, perhaps we should make these resolutions at the beginning of each day!  We work so hard trying to come up with solid, inspirational New Year's resolutions but after attempting for a bit, we lose interest and move back to our old habits.  And what's the problem with that?  Well, we complain and moan and groan about the previous year and how hard it was and how we can't wait to move on to the next year.  We are always ready to move on to the next year.  Doesn't that bother you a bit?  We just want to fast-forward our lives, because maybe next year we might try a little bit harder and of course who ever thought of renewing resolutions daily?  We wait for January 1st to come around again and again, year after year.

My grandma always told to start each day fresh and she sure was right!  Life isn't just about moving from year to year, it's about living day to day.  And if we don't work at each day, we lose them and pretty soon we have lost a whole year of our lives or more!

Take a few minutes each morning to renew your daily resolutions.

What's your main focus for the day?

So my resolutions for this year are...well I'm actually not going to tell you, but I will tell you this: I plan on beginning each day again, because life is a work in progress and if we don't work at it, let's just say the end result is probably our own fault.

Happy New Year!  

We have officially hit the teenage years: 2013!