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Dear Reader,
I recognized the other day that in addition to living my own life, sometimes I try to live other people's lives, too. No one else is to blame. It's all my own doing. I'm a born helper. I like to lend a hand. In the midst of listening to someone tell me about their problem, my mind is clicking away, thinking of suggestions I could offer to help ease their troubled mind, and how I might actively get involved.
It's kind of arrogant of me to think I have a solution for every situation. In my defense, when I'm jumping in to help, I'm not thinking I know all the answers. I just don't like to see people in pain. But looking back over my own life experiences, feeling pain has inspired and taught me some pretty valuable lessons. I've learned how to get myself out of sticky situations, because I was feeling the pain, and had to devise an exit plan--myself. And since I was the author of the plan, and carried it out on my own, the next time something similar happened, I could think back, remember the pain, but also the joy of figuring out how to solve the problem. I'd learned my lesson so I wouldn't have to go down that road again. I don't want to stop feeling sadness and empathy when someone is sick or has a problem, but I've learned that being a good listener is really what most people want from me. And it's the best thing I can offer. Which is good news, because if I'm constantly living somebody else's troubled life, I'll miss the joyful parts of my own.
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
AUTHORBUZZ: With so many new books out every week, we promise these titles deserve your attention:
(Fiction)
THE COMFORT OF LIES by Randy Susan Meyers
(Fiction)
THE ART OF FALLING by Kathryn Craft
(Thriller)
TIME OF ATTACK by Marc Cameron
(NonFiction)
MAGICAL JOURNEY: An Apprenticeship in Contentment by Katrina Kenison
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* This month's Penguin Classics book is BUTTERFIELD 8 by John O'Hara. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin bookbag.
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