The challenge of stepping above the Drama

Often times in life we are challenged with the drama of others. People will often test our character. These people are committed to having drama in their lives. If all is good for them then they create issues. If they have everything they need then something that they want becomes so important that they stress over it. They have the need to have something to fret over. It is their way of feeling alive. But I am not writing about them. They have to contend with this issue on their own. I am talking to all of us that let some one's drama affect our lives.
I have an ex-wife and an ex-girlfriend that I have children with. I can hear the laughs and that poor sucker's raining in your minds. Yes it is a challenge each day. When you are attempting to be a good father to your children it is very difficult when they live with someone else. There is a thin line between trying to stay out of their business and trying to ensure that your kids are being raised with the values that you want them to live by. More often than not issues over the kids are simply a disagreement over some simple idea or concept. However the underlying anger and frustration that goes along with the loss of a relationship often rears it's ugly head and makes the simple very personal and more complex. So how do we keep it simple. well the best bet is to have God and prayer in your life. It is best to get right with God and thus with yourself. Christian principles go a long way to help you in dealing with others. They help you to have empathy for an other's position. If you have that it will make a lot of your interactions with others easier. Then you will be able to see things from their perspective. i am not saying that you will agree with them, but if you can at least see their point of view then it will be easier for you to deal with them. Now of course this will not solve the interactions that I am speaking of today. Those interactions are with the totally unreasonable person.
why do some people seem to be totally unreasonable? There are to major factors that can contribute to this situation. One is that you are being unreasonable. Maybe you are asking for way too much from this person. What often seems simple to us is often not as it appears. Until we are truly aware of our values and ideas that drive our behavior we can never say that we are not the one that is unreasonable. Once again I say that prayer and contemplation help greatly with this. i do not pray enough and often realize that I am being unreasonable. I then have to ask God for forgiveness and help in being a better Man.
So here is the scenario. you have an event to attend for your child. Your former partner has decided that she is going to attend with her new partner. You have felt uncomfortable with this. What do you do? In the past I have avoided this situation. I did not feel comfortable with myself and the relationship so I would stay away from kids. Wrong answer. If I am trying to be a good father then I have to show my children that they are more important than how I feel about their mother's relationship status. I have to show them that I can put aside my differences with their mom and do what is best for them. If I can't do that then I am more concerned with her than i am with them. So I have to Man up.
The key to ignoring others drama is to look at what it is that drives you. You have to focus on yourself and what is important in your life. A lot of men are only good fathers or husbands because that is what they think others want them to be. The true sign of being a Man is to live YOUR VALUES and BELIEFS and stand for those things. You may not always be right(if you are take a second look), but you will always follow your own principles. The truth in life is that the DRAMA of others only affects us if we allow it to. That principle applies to jealousy and anger and so many other issues that we have in our lives. If we have a solid foundation of what we believe then we will never have to worry about the moods and attitudes of others. We will naturally know how to deal with them. We must aspire each day to continue to nurture our beliefs and values so that they are not lost in the turmoil of present day life. DO YOU.