No matter what your spiritual or religious beliefs are, prayer/meditation is the common denominator.
Coping Skill #7. Pray
~Johann von Goethe
Is prayer or meditation a way to cope with being the target of thoughtless remarks? If yes, how so? If no, why not? Please list 7 things you would pray for or meditate about regarding the subject of talking/acting white.
Is prayer or meditation a way to cope with being the target of thoughtless remarks? If yes, how so? If no, why not? Please list 7 things you would pray for or meditate about regarding the subject of talking/acting white.
ReplyDeleteI think ultimately, prayer and action are the answers to most issues in life. Not sure that I would immediately stop and pray when someone is saying something thoguhtless to me. I may pray afterwards for them and for myself especially if they caught me at the wrong date and time and something less than Godly came out of my mouth. When I did pray I would pray for:
1. The person saying the thoughtless remarks, they obviously are in need of help.
2. Pray for myself , that I have the patience to deal with ugly comments directed my way.
3. Pray that we as a society and a people get past this self hatred we have towards one another where we think that comments like this are ok. and valid.
4. Pary that the person making the comments does not pass this poor thinking onto any children they may be involved with.
5. Pray that any poor thoughts that I may have be uncovered and corrected internally, prior to hurting anyone else.
6. Pray for forgiveness in case I hurt any one in the past before I knew any better.
7. Pray that one day this will not be an issue at all.
Is prayer or meditation a way to cope with being the target of thoughtless remarks? If yes, how so? If no, why not? Please list 7 things you would pray for or meditate about regarding the subject of talking/acting white.
ReplyDeleteFor me,
having a strong relationship with God is important in all aspects of my life. Knowing that Jesus died for me makes me feel special, humbled, and responsible. I am responsible for how I act and speak to others and I often pray for God to guide my acts and speech. Getting to this point is a long journey of spiritual growth and doesn't make you better than others. I find that the acceptance of God makes it easier when others don't accept me. Knowing that I am special in God's eyes is comforting.
7 things that I pray for or meditate about:
1. I pray for God to make me strong to face any adversity.
2. I pray that God will guide me to be the type of person that people can see God in me.
3. I pray for those who hurt me or act ignorant toward me and that God will open their hearts and minds.
4. I meditate on the fact that God has blessed me with many talents and that if I waste them, I am spitting in God's face. My talents have been giving to me as a gift and I must cultivate them regardless of what others say or think about me.
5. I pray that I lead by example and show people that stereotypes are ridiculous because I don't fit any.
6. I pray that I will be judged by merit and not by my skin color or speech.
7. I constantly pray the scripture: I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. The Bible does not say white or black things but ALL things.
Personally I was never a extremely religious person, but recently I have discovered I really turn to praying and "believing" if something is going wrong in my life. I used to never pray, but if I would pray nowadays about talking/acting white I would list the following 3 things.
ReplyDelete1. Everyone should realize not all brown people cannot "talk white" (Dutch in my case).
2. People should all not look at the colour of my skin, but at me as a person.
3. I should be able to deal with the "talking/acting white" issue in a good way, that means I don't want to make a big deal out of it, as I sometimes do nowadays.
I believe prayer is the best way to deal with any type of ignorance, including negative racial and/or cultural comments. It's a process, but I'm learning everyday that I can't control other people. I believe it's just out of my realm of doing and understanding. On that note, here's what I'd pray for:
ReplyDelete1) For God to take away the ignorance from the minds of those who feel they think it's appropriate to tell people of other they "talk or act White".
2) For the Lord to calm my temper to not act out in a negative way against people who speak those ignorant words.
3) For the Lord to tame my tongue so I don't speak evil against those who make such comments.
4) For patience so I can attempt to listen to why people who say such words believe what they believe.
5) For wisdom with the appropriate words to respond to those comments.
6) For the Lord to remove any judgment from my mind about those who say those comments about me and other people.
7) For the Lord to continue to give me courage to face and stand up to those who speak negatively about me and people like me.
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ReplyDelete7 things to pray for:
ReplyDelete1. Pray that the person has open ears and an open heart and wants to engage in a healthy dialogue with you
2. Pray for wisdom to say the right words to them.
3. Pray that the person will think about the conversation and regardless of their personal beliefs... will continue to think before they make similar comments to other people
4. Pray that the person can become more confident in who they are so they don't try to make fun of you
5. Pray that the person gets to know Christ in a deeper and meaningful way.
6. Pray for something good to happen to the person.
7. Pray that the person gets the chance to meet people from various backgrounds so they can expand their perspective
Pray and/or meditation are probably good ways to help cope with various issues. I wasn't raised very religious...technically we were Catholic but I never went to catachism classes or to church on Sundays. The first time I started thinking about religion is when my then-boyfriend (husband now) started talking about getting married. His family is VERY religious and so we were going to get married in church. I had to take classes and we both had to go to pre-marital seminars before we were allowed to marry in the church.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, pray or meditation has never really been a part of my life. I've read about others doing it especially in the book "Eat, Pray, Love".
If I did use this coping method, here are things that I'd pray for:
1. I'd pray that people in general could be more accepting of others that are viewed as "different"
2. I'd pray that whoever hurt me, could find the peace that they need to feel better about themselves.
3. I'd pray that other people, especially children, could stop going through the trauma of being bullied.
4. I'd meditate on finding strength within myself to make me feel like I'm okay with who I am.
5. I'd meditate to feel pride about being Mexican -- for too long I was ashamed.
6. I'd meditate and pray to find some sort of spiritual connection that I currently don't feel. I believe there's a god but don't feel connected with that idea...
Prayer is definitely a way to cope with thoughtless remarks. Prayer fortifies and strengthens me so I can deal with things people do and say, and prayer also keeps me mindful of how I should behave or react to other people's ignorance. Things I would pray for are:
ReplyDelete1. To have a forgiving heart so I don't carry around the burden of a grudge for anything that has been said to me.
2. Pray for wisdom for the person making the remark.
3. Pray that my own strength and confidence be continually renewed and not destroyed by the fiery darts from people's tongues.
4. Pray for the grace to respond in a way that will make the incident a teachable moment instead of responding in a way that is hurtful or retaliatory.
5. Pray for the ability to recognize in myself any behavior or remarks that may be hurtful to others.
6.Pray for the younger and future generations that they are taught kindess and acceptance instead of ignorance and stereotypes.
7. Pray that I will be able to judge the remarks and not the person making them.
Definitely. My faith allows me to pray for forgiveness (because some of my thoughts are not so nice--i.e. what I should say versus what I REALLY want to say.) By praying/meditating on the subject of talking/acting white--I am truly thankful for the revelation of wisdom and that if I plant the seed, He can provide the needed nourishment for that particular person.
ReplyDeleteMy top 7 things I would pray for regarding this topic is as follows:
1. Understanding...to help better myself and the my delivery of others.
2. Discernment...to help me understand and choose which areas/”battles” I should engage in and which ones to just let go.
3. Forgiveness...for my not so tactful thoughts and helping me to forgive those who just have no clue.
4. Pure Heart...so that my thoughts, words, and actions are not in vain, but in love and honesty.
5. Protection...from allowing negativity and ignorance to overwhelm me.
-Is prayer or meditation a way to cope with being the target of thoughtless remarks? If yes, how so? If no, why not?-
ReplyDeleteIt hasn’t been my practice, but if it works for someone, it seems like a healthy way to cope.
-Please list things you would pray for or meditate about regarding the subject of talking/acting white.-
Patience
Understanding x 2 – I want to know where my “bully” is coming from, and I want to be sure of myself
Love
Self-acceptance
An end to silly taunts like “talking/acting white”
To never lose my voice – in the sense of always being true to myself no matter the criticism, and literally – so I can continue to spread good vibe through the world with the WONDERFUL way I speak!