I saw someone this week in the local shopping centre with this printed on his T-shirt:

‘Give me a moment and I’ll try to look interested!’

All very tongue-in-cheek I’m sure, but it started me thinking about whether this person was really disinterested in anyone who might want to talk to him. It’s very likely that his outward comment wasn’t consistent with his inner thoughts and feelings, but the possibility remains that he actually was being completely congruent!

There are many people on whom demands of time and attention are piled high. You may identify with this. I doubt you would say to anyone ‘give me a moment and I’ll try to look interested’, but instead you would do your best to offer what quality time you felt you could manage.

But how would you feel on the inside? What would your T-shirt say?

It’s good and right to give to others, but it’s also good and right to give to yourself. Setting good boundaries enables giving and congruence.