Maturity

I recently came across this clipping I saved from a newspaper a long time ago. I am constantly trying to understand behavior in myself and others and thus the interest.

Maturity is the ability to control anger and settle differences without violence.

Maturity is patience, the willingness to pass up immediate pleasure for long-term gain.

Maturity is perseverance, the ability to sweat out a project or a situation in spite of heavy opposition and setbacks.

Maturity is the capacity to face unpleasantness and frustration, discomfort and defeat, without complaint or collapse.

Maturity is being big enough to say, "I was wrong." And, when right, the mature person need not say, "I told you so."

Maturity is the ability to make a decision and stand by it.

Maturity means dependability, keeping one's word and coming through in a crisis. The immature are masters of the alibi. They are the confused and the conflicted. Their lives are a maze of broken promises, former friends, unfinished business and good intentions that never materialize.

Maturity is the art of living in peace with what we cannot change, the courage to change what should be changed and the wisdom to know the difference.