I Like you just the way you are

Last week I was in the middle of a misunderstanding which grew and loomed over my week. It was brought on by someone taking over what I thought I was doing. I’ve been working on ridding myself of these bad feelings without writing unnecessary e-mails about how angry I was and without hurting more people.

Here are a few things I learned as I journeyed through this. Try to go to the places in your life that give you strength and encouragement and help you let go what you are hanging onto. Walking is good and riding a bike by the sea on an unexpected warm day can heal the hurt. A recent talk with my son also proved helpful and made me understand what a rich life we have together.

But what really spoke to me was Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers in the movie “It’s A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” I grew up in a small town southwest of Pittsburgh, so I was familiar with the scenes of the city and the hills surrounding Pittsburgh.

Things that Mr. Rogers said popped out at me and the sadness and madness dissipated. How about when Mr. Rogers says, “There’s always something you can do with the mad inside of you.” He goes on to say we can work with clay, or swim or hit some loud chords on the piano as constructive ways to deal with anger and hurt.

But when it comes down to it, we must like ourselves just the way we are. We are human and the people we are dealing with are human. He reminds us to think of the people who helped us become the way we are. They “loved you into being.” By the end of the movie, I had taken my old stuffed animal “Jocko” out of the closet and tears were streaming down my face. I remembered what Mr. Rogers says: “Anything that is human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable is manageable.”

Thank you, Fred.