Henry's Unbirthday Party

Wednesday night I was taking the kids to their Youth Night. They were all carrying wrapped presents because they were celebrating their "unbirthdays". Henry rode in the car with us. He was convinced that it was Heather's birthday, and when we dropped them off, he was very sad when I didn't let him go to the birthday with them. As we drove away he just yelled at me and said, "I'n MAD!" No amount of reasoning could console him. He just kept yelling"I'n MAD!" I then shifted my tactics and said "Henry, just blow your mad out!" His little cheeks puckered up and he started blowing with all his might. He insisted that he was still very Mad, so we kept blowing. Thank goodness he was in the back seat! He really had a wild spray going on! I asked him what color his mad was, and he said it was "bue" (blue). Not really sure of what to make of his bue mad, I had him blow until it was all gone, and we were laughing.

When we got home we cut a brownie so it looked like a piece of cake. Then we put a pretend candle on it. I sang "Happy Birthday" to him, and he blew out his pretend candle. I handed him an imaginary gift (imacculately wrapped, of course). He took the gift and pretended to open it. He was quite excited, and I asked him what it was. He said it was a dinosaur. I handed him another gift, and he excitedly pretended to open it to find another dinosaur...which he was also excited about. Then I handed him a third gift. This one was huge, and heavy. He took it from me and placed it on the table. He was sooo excited to open it and find...another "big, big dinosaur". He ate his "birthday cake", and went to bed with a big smile on his face. How I love my little angel.

DANGEROUS CROCODILES

Weekly Wisdom
by Rebecca Linder Hintze

While on vacation in Mexico years ago, our family toured a swamp near the ocean that was said to house a 25-foot crocodile. A young, small Mexican man was our guide. With enthusiasm, he walked my family (and a few others) onto a wooden ramp that sat a foot or so above the muddy water and had a railing made of logs. Walking forward I kept my eyes out in the distance hoping to get a view of this huge reptile.

Initially, I didn't see anything off the ramp other than swampy land--though on the ramp, to my surprise, I noticed a piece of raw chicken lying near my feet. I began to take note of the distance between the log rails, and decided it might be a good idea to grab my smallest child and hold onto him--after all, who knows what a 25-foot crocodile is capable of, especially if he's hungry! It wasn't long before our guide began his speech. He explained a bit about the region, and then turned his focus to the swampy water. I was shocked and very amazed when the guide pointed out that crocodiles were lurking all around us! They blended into the environment so well that to an untrained eye, they could not be easily recognized. Come to find out, just under my feet rested the monster crocodile that I expected to see off in the distance. And the worst part--his lunch (the chicken that the guide brought with him) was sitting right next to me.

Like these crocodiles, dangerous influences can destroy our lives and our families if we aren't aware and protected. There are steps we can take to assure our safety (which I will discuss over the next few weeks).

Most importantly, let's emphasize that we can avoid falling into thought patterns and beliefs that feed the root cause of most dysfunctional patterns--that is-- a lack of knowing our individual worth and our inability to manifest our value due to fear. This is a like a 25-foot crocodile that has the potential to do a lot of damage.

Here are some of the internal thoughts that feed this dangerous problem:

· I'm not good enough
· I'm not loveable
· I'm worthless
· I'm powerless
· I never get what I want
· I'm bad because I'm not perfect
· I have no value to society
· I'm a failure

When we feel small inside, we naturally create big egos to cover up our pain. Many may never know our internal suffering ... even we may suppress it and act as though nothing's wrong. Consequently, many in our world are suffering through painful lives, wondering where the destructive behaviors came from and not knowing how to heal them.

We move further away from dangers that threaten our happiness when we have a solid sense of self (not vanity) and we eliminate our deeper fears that we are worthless, less than others, and unloved.
For this week's homework, evaluate your position. Are your negative thoughts placing food for a destructive pattern? If so, take steps to get to the bottom of it. Ask yourself, "Where do these thoughts come from?" "Why do I hold on to them?" "How do they affect the ones I love?" For more help, seek assistance from the five-step process in Healing Your Family History. You are also welcome to join me May 7th, from 6-8 p.m. in Round Hill, VA for a FREE seminar where I'll share simple and easy tips to break free of destructive patterns. Lear n More

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With love,


Rebecca Linder Hintze
Author, wellness counselor
©Rebecca Linder Hintze, 2009.