The Joy Of Christmas Lives In Your Heart And No One Can Take It Away From You Unless You Choose To Relinquish It!

In tough times I try to remember that the joy of Christmas lives in my heart and no one can strip that away from me unless I choose to relinquish it.  You can't control what other people think, say, feel, or do.  All you can do is observe those behaviors and make decisions as to who or what you are willing to allow in your life.   Not all relationships are salvageable but all are valuable.   Determining the reason why a relationship is valuable is crucial for a happy life in my opinion.   Some relationships are only valuable because of the lessons learned and the strength required to survive it and walk away from it.  No parent, child, sibling, spouse, other relative, or acquaintance should be given the repeated opportunity to hurt you once you've decided you've done your best to build to build a healthy relationship and they do not respect or value you as the wonderful person you are.  Not every relationship needs to be granted access to you heart and cause you pain.  Happiness and improved relationships requires the discernment to determine who you grant permission to hurt you.  Likewise, recognizing when someone cares deeply but cannot accommodate your request but would if they could is helpful too.  Just because someone doesn't do what you want when you want doesn't mean they are being unreasonable.   I  hope you have a blessed Christmas in spite of your troubled circumstances.