Our Self-Sabotaging Nature

Recently I was made aware of a very sad situation between family members.  These family members had a disagreement and before long, the situation had escalated to a point where one asked the other never to talk to or touch her children again.  As an outsider to the situation it broke my heart and seemed so unnecessary.  I found it hard to comprehend the logic of such actions and observed the undue heartache and stress it was causing all involved.  What had started out as a disagreement grew to a serious family feud between these two families. 

As we review history, we can see other instances where even great wars were started with relatively small disagreements.  As humans, we often allow our emotions to get the best of us in difficult situations and then our pride, selfishness, and jealousy kick in and before we know it, what was a small issue is now a big disaster.

Viewing these situations and observing human nature, I firmly believe that the majority of the stress and heartache in our lives is self-induced.  And why we do this to ourselves is beyond my comprehension or expertise but even the best among us do it.  I’ve come to the conclusion that to cause self-misery or “sabotage ourselves” is to be human.  Some of us are better at recognizing and accepting this than others.  And I believe this is the first step to minimizing our self-destructive behavior.  When we are hurt, or stressed out, or entrenched in a disagreement, we need to recognize the part we play in it and take ownership for it.  We then need to try and reconcile our actions that brought us to this point and move on with a determination to do better. 

I believe so much of the hurt in the world is so avoidable.  Being aware of our self-sabotaging nature, taking ownership for it, and then trying to overcome it as often as possible will go a long way in our quest to reach our full potential and will bring greater success and happiness in life.  Let’s do allow we can to not cause ourselves so much needless pain.