"You ___ too much!"

Do you ___ too much?

This is not a party game; it's a real question.

Have you been told that you --

think too much?

care too much?

are too sensitive?

Does your critic tell you this most often when they, or someone they approve of, has hurt you, and you've spoken up for yourself?

It is certainly possible to ___ too much. Many Americans take in more calories than they expend, and as a result, are overweight: we eat too much. We drive when we could as easily walk, we spend the days glued to our desks and the evenings glued to our blogs [ahem]: we sit too much. We may well drink too much, watch television too much, play video games too much...

But all of these too-muches are things that do us harm, sooner or later. And those who criticize us for them, tactless though they may be, are usually attempting to speak the truth in love, in order to protect us from future harm.

Thinking too much? Caring too much? Feeling too much?

These criticisms, more often than not, are the disarmament tactics of people who are speaking nothing true, without love, in order to make it that much easier for them to harm us, in the future.