Your Front Yard

Chad Eastham explains it something like this in the book guys like girls who..........

Have you ever had to mow the grass in your front yard? Isn't it strange to think that people stop moving the grass at an imaginary line that separates their yard from the next? It's called boundary. You can't see it, but it's there. have you ever given thought to what a boundary actually is? What does that term mean to you when you think of it? And besides that, what purpose does it actually serve?

Well, in the case of your front yard or your bedroom door, it serves as a line. It's almost like a property line, isn't it? There is a different kind of line too, and this one is yours. It distinguishes what is your property and what is not. It's pretty noticeable when someone has crossed over into our own personal space. Someone puts their hand somewhere that you don't feel comfortable with, maybe they put their face too close to yours, or maybe they start asking questions that are too private and you don't want to answer them. Usually we don't like it when people invade our personal space, and we need to show people the line that they have to stop at. Like a front door, people need to knock on the door and get permission before they are allowed to see what's inside. These are our boundaries, and they usually serve two functions.

The first function is to define who you are. They are a notice to yourself and others about what you like and don't like, what you will accept and what you won't, what we like and what we hate. Boundaries tell people how far or close we want them to be. These boundaries exist ALL the time and are usually easier to notice after people cross them.

The second purpose that they serve is to protect you. Basically they tend to help keep the negative stuff away, and to attract the good stuff more naturally. Have you ever heard the saying "If you don't know what you stand for, you might fall for anything"? Well, it works like that here too. Boundaries are there to protect your reputation, your body, your and other people's feelings, and your most valuable asset: your heart. How many girls have you known who have exposed their bodies and their hearts in the wrong way or to the wrong person? When you don't have these boundaries, you are much more likely to expose yourself to harsh elements. Just as a coat is a boundary between your skin and cold weather, your personal boundaries protect the innermost (and sometimes outermost) parts of who you are.