Family Love & Communication
When we understand and consider each other, family love gets stronger. Learn the way of communication to add more happiness to your family.
Warm Words Save the Family
There are the sayings: “Words have no feet, but they travel far,” and “Words can even repay a huge debt.” These show how powerful words are. Words can control the happiness of a family; they can break the family bond, or strengthen family’s love. The way the family members talk shows how strong and peaceful their family bond is. “Is there anything you know how to do?” “You stay home all day, doing nothing!” “You are stubborn-headed!” Love cannot exist in a family if the members use these kinds of words, not regarding the other person’s feeling. Everybody wants a sweet home. Wouldn’t you be very happy if a warm atmosphere fills your home when you come back tired after…
What We Need Now Is Tolerance and Forgiveness
In the old time Korea, scholars, who were called Seonbi, were rarely angered and generously extended forgiveness and tolerance to others, regarding them as virtues. Shouting loud in the streets or fighting in anger were considered a vulgar behavior which only the lower class did. Now, however, the world has changed and people with a loud voice are being treated as masters. We live together with others in the world. Since we interact with different people daily, hurting each other is a common occurrence. The funny thing is that we easily forget our wrongdoing to others, but hardly forget what others have done to us. Sometimes we even think of revenging someday. However, our anger eventually leads us to self-destruction.…
To Start Your Communication, Acknowledge Your Family Members the Way They Are
A daughter-in-law made soy sauce while her mother-in-law was sick. She did exactly the way her mother-in-law showed her, but it didn’t taste as good as her mother-in-law’s soy sauce. She had no idea what was wrong, so she asked her mother-in-law for help. Then the sick mother-in-law listened to her patiently and got up, saying, “I think I know what went wrong.” Her eyes were brighter than ever before, and she looked lively. How could the sick mother-in-law positively help her daughter-in-law who asked her what she thought went wrong with the soy sauce she made? It was because the daughter-in-law acknowledged her mother-in-law’s skill of making soy sauce. Some people become dispirited when they become old though they…
Men and Women Are So Different, but That’s What Makes More Harmony!
The book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus has been one of the best sellers ever since it was published. The book introduces an interesting idea of how men and women are different in their characters and their ways of thinking because they are from different planets. It also explains how men and women feel and think differently, which has elicited public sympathy. Actually, even people of the same gender sometimes have problems understanding each other. There is a conflict between a mom and a daughter, a dad and a son, a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law. So we cannot jump to a conclusion that the cause of misunderstandings is a gender difference. Moreover, it is not right to…
Manage Family Finances through Communication
We are living in an era of consumption. On home shopping, they stimulate people’s consumption desire with the signs, “Almost sold out” or “Limited offer.” You only need one click to have an item delivered to your house. People say that they need to at least have a cup of takeout coffee that costs more than a meal. People can’t help but spend money as there is so much temptation to consume wherever they go. But we can’t have all we want to have or eat all we want to eat. Even if you satisfy your consumption desire to the fullest, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee you a happy life. If you want to obtain happiness—the ultimate goal of life, it…
Filial Duty Starts from Love
Even little children know that they ought to carry out their filial duty for their parents. However, it is not easy even for adults to serve this matter 100% though they stand in the position where they teach their children about that. It is said that you can understand how hard your parents have worked for you and how much they have loved you once you have your own child, but there is a great difference between knowing something and putting it into practice. Most people put aside their filial duty on the pretext that they cannot help but care more about their own child than their parents, or that they are busy working, or that they live far, or…
Remove Greed, You’ll Be Filled With Happiness
On the New Year’s Day, people give all different answers about their wishes for the New Year, but their ultimate wish is all the same: It is to live a happy life. The criteria of happiness vary depending on people. Some people think they can be happy if they have much money, and some think they can if they have much fame, and some believe that having power will give them happiness. However, Jay Gould, a millionaire, said before he died, “I believe that I am the most pitiful person in the world.” Emperor Napoleon who conquered Europe confessed, “I only had six days of my life when I was actually happy.” Jimmy Carter, a former U.S. President, responded to…
When One’s Home Is Happy, All Goes Well! Happiness Begins at Home
When people are asked what their family motto is, many people say, “When my home is happy, all goes well.” A family is the basis of society and the nation, and the starting point of one’s life. Therefore, it is a given that society can be strong and the nation stable when families are harmonious. Secret to a harmonious family Mr. Kim’s family always argues with each other; not even a day went by without arguments. One day, Mr. Kim tied his cow on a hill to feed him grass, but as the rein became loose, the cow ran around the whole field and ruined the crops. Mr. Kim managed to seize the cow, tied him in the stall, and…
How to Help a Bereaved Person
All people experience big and small losses in their lives. The losses can be their friends, family members, co-workers, acquaintances, and so on. The grief and pain followed by such loss varies, depending on people, but the sadness of losing the loving family members is bigger than any other sadness. Sorrow of losing a family member is a kind of feeling that everybody wants to avoid, but anybody can experience it either temporarily or permanently. Little children lose their grandparents whom they are close to; dispersed family members cannot meet each other even though they want to; some sons and daughters miss their fathers who died after many years of struggling against diseases; some wives lose their husbands whom they…
When You Turn Off the TV, You Will See Your Family
The word television comes from Ancient Greek tèle, meaning far, and vision, meaning sight. As the word explains itself, television is a broadcast system which allows us to see what is going on in a far-off place, even on the other side of the world, at home. However, we should remember that it actually blocks us from seeing our family members who are very close to us. It has become an everyday thing to turn on a cartoon channel for a crying kid, or to place a television set in the living room where all family members gather. Now since there are many cable TV channels as well as terrestrial TV channels, quite many families turn on the TV from…
Are Couples’ Quarrels Soon Mended?
It is good to make up with each other right away after an argument, but it is better not to turn an argument into a quarrel. Husband and wife may quarrel like enemies, but then they soon make up with each other as if nothing happened. That is why there is a saying that goes, “Couples’ quarrels are soon mended.” However, it sounds invalid these days. The divorce rate keeps increasing year after year, and there are many accidents and crimes caused by quarrels between husband and wife, such as setting a house on fire out of anger. People say that after a storm comes a calm. But if it goes over the edge, the storm will be out of…
Menopause, a Second Adolescence
she feels as if an old lady is sitting in front of the mirror. She also feels her heart starting to pound all of a sudden, and it is hard to control her feelings no matter how hard she tries. However, nothing happens without a cause. If this continues, she needs to think about whether she has reached menopause, which is called a second adolescence. Life is like a flow of seasons. The time from infancy when a baby takes her first step into the world with a loud cry until adolescence—a time for growth spurts, is like spring when a seed in the dark ground sprouts on the earth. The time of youth when a person lets the flower…
If Your Child Is in Adolescence
A little kid cries like it’s the end of the world when he gets separated from his mom, but then smiles again when she comes back; he also believes whatever his mom tells him even though she’d cried wolf too many times. However, when the kid grows up and goes to school, he likes hanging out with his friends more than staying with his mom, and begins to have some secrets from her. Moreover, he easily gets mad, cares more about how he looks, and even locks his room door. All these happen as he has reached adolescence. Adolescence is like growing pains that a child suffers while becoming an adult. Parents experience his pain, too. The child feels confused…
Build a Strong Home That Won’t Collapse Even by a Strong Wind
A home where the family members are united in love and trust is the strongest one that is able to stand against any strong wind. Though a man lives in wealth and honor, what good is his wealth if he doesn’t have his loving family? Even though he may succeed in society, if he doesn’t take care of his family and get acknowledged by them, he won’t be truly happy. On the other hand, even though everybody in the world criticizes him, if he has his family who trusts and encourages him, he can surely stand right back up thanks to his family that supports him like a strong pivot. There is an old Korean saying, “When one’s home is…
You Can Communicate with Your Child
It is almost never quiet in a home with a child. Once a child begins to understand the meaning of what people say and express his opinions, the wrestle between his parents and him begins in earnest. Although a child is so lovely, when he acts so stubbornly and throws a tantrum, his parents might feel like leaving everything behind. Perhaps, it is natural for a child to act up. Since he too is a human being, he wants certain things and thinks in his own way. Although a child is immature mentally and physically and needs someone to guide him, you shouldn’t look down on him just because he is young; rather, you need to help him think and…
Giving Thanks, the Essential Virtue of Happy Home
In 1990, Nelson Mandela was released after spending 27 years in prison for fighting against racism. People thought that he would look very old since he was 70 years old. However, he surprised people as he came out of prison, looking healthy and spirited. A reporter asked him the secret to his health, and he answered: “I always gave thanks to God in prison. I thanked God, looking up at the sky. I gave thanks, looking down at the ground. I gave thanks, drinking water. I gave thanks while eating. I even gave thanks, working in a labor camp. I was able to stay healthy because I always gave thanks.” A university student got third-degree burns all over her body…
The World Is Short-Tempered: Let’s Correct It at My Home First!
Nowadays, people become more and more impatient, being unable to control their anger. A driver, who was driving on a highway, got angry as another driver changed the lane, and stopped his car suddenly; the car behind him was able to stop before he hit the car, but five cars behind him collided with each other and as a result, one innocent driver died, and four people were seriously injured. Two people died as a man got angry because of the noise between the floors of his apartment and set fire downstairs. A son murdered his parents who were disciplining him. An office worker murdered his colleague whom he argued with. Such incidents caused by the inability to control their…
Division of Housework Has an Amazing Power
Cooking, doing the dishes, laundry, cleaning, arranging, recycling, taking out the trash, grocery shopping . . . The housework repeats every day, and it’s not even that noticeable even if you do it, but it’s very obvious if you don’t do it. Although the housework seems simple and trivial, quite a lot of families have conflicts because of it. ‘Why can’t he help me with the house chores?’ ‘How can she ask me for help after I came back from working all day?’ ‘Mom will take care of it’ . . . The problem is not the housework itself, but the difference in understanding among family members. Sometimes, you don’t feel like doing housework, and they seem like trivial and…