"Friends" to Avoid

Thought the priest's homily during Saturday's adoration was very insightful:

There was a woman who had 2 sons. The elder son was in the business of selling umbrellas, while the younger son was in the business of selling fans.

The woman would pray for the elder son's business. With rainy weather, she would be happy, knowing that her elder son's business would thrive on that day. When the weather was sunny, she would be unhappy.

Being a fair mother, she also prays for her younger son. When the weather was sunny, she would be happy, knowing that her younger son's business would be bustling on that day. Contrastingly, with rainy weather, she would be unhappy due to the reverse.

She didn't know whether to be happy or sad because the different weathers represent different stuff to her 2 sons.

One day, as she told her story to a friend, the friend enlightened her: "Happiness is determined by our attitude towards life. In this case, you should be happy no matter what the weather is, because you stand to benefit no matter what the weather is. Either son would thrive anyway, no matter what the weather was."

To this story, the priest mentioned about some "die-hard friends" to avoid:

1. Friend of complaining
2. Friend of loneliness
3. Friend of super-ego

All these friends, when present in us, affect our interactions with the people in our lives. How true this is. I could see these "die-hard friends" in my life. Friend of complaining likes me when I'm lamenting about things in the company. Friend of loneliness gets to me when I'm being over-sensitive. And friend of super-ego waves to me when I think too highly of myself and shut out others' opinions / ideas with my stubbornness.

A lot of "die-hard friends" to work on....