I choose.  I act.   Others observe and judge.  I accept or refute or offer explanation.  Others adjust, accept or disagree.  In most cases, I can live with that just fine.  (This is not about politics, finance or religion….)  My Logittude is not the same as anyone else’s, and in understanding that simple fact, I can deal with disagreement just fine, in most cases…

You just cannot please everyone, but you can let other people be unpleased.

I admit that in my own Logittudinal studies, I discovered that I have been a people pleaser most of my life.  As a child, I did the “right” things most of the time because I did not want to disappoint my parents.  There was not threat of punishment, no dangling of rewards.  I simply understood that I had the choice of doing what was right or disappointing those who expected the best from me.  In doing this, I became a person who sought to not disappoint myself in my own life endeavors.  Cool, huh?  Like a bit of self-hypnotism, but wide awake and aware of my choices.

What I choose to do with my life, with my day, with my personal spaces and actions, is all determined with whether I set about to not disappoint myself…. not necessarily to please myself, but to not disappoint.  If I have the opportunity and talent and resources to accomplish something, I feel that is what I must do.  If I do my best efforts, then I feel that I have excelled to the best of my abilities.  I can live with those choices.

What others determine that I should be doing may be a whole other ballgame.  It is my choice to act as they expect and wish or to please myself.  Sometimes the two coincide;  sometimes not.  I can live with that.  I know from my awareness of my own Logittude what is right for me and why I do what I do on most occasions; even the not-so-great choices can be understood.  Others are interpreting my decisions through their own Logittudes, not mine.  If other’s do not share the same filters, I can live with their disagreements.  I can attempt to educate them to my “why”, or I can allow their opinions to stand unchallenged.

I am still a people pleaser to a degree.  If my time can be given to another to make their life better, I can take that time for someone else.  If a phone conversation can bring happiness, then I’ll spend that time in conversation.  If driving 2 hours or 10 hours to accomplish a task can make some situation better, then I’ll drive.  If a gift of a possession can bring happiness, I might relinquish my ownership without regret.  I also realize that it is not about me, so if I choose to be silent or absent on occasions, the world will keep spinning and the sun wil come up tomorrow, in most cases…  Decisions are based on the big pictures and what is truly important to the people concerned.

Last week, I decided to take time from my own tasks to help with those of others.  They would have been fine without me, but I think I played a helpful role and left positive outcomes.  I was away from my  typing for a bit, but the web kept spinning without me for the time spent.  I have been told by at least three individuals today what they view as what I should have done recently, that I did differently.  I accepted their input, and I offered my reasoning to one person, who rejected it.  I offered a smile to the second person, and I left the conversation at a stalemate.  For the third, I walked away.  All perfectly good decisions that I can live with, and apparently so can they.  I understand it because I know where I stand, Logittudinally speaking.  Everyone else seemed pleased enough with me this past week, so my overall outcomes were successful.

Wonder what this week will bring me?  [Thank You, God, for the opportunities you lay before me.  Thank You for allowing me to discover those opportunities and to use them for the best purposes in serving You and those I love. Amen.]