Tuesday, March 08, 2005

TWP Creative Theme - Catch up session #2

The theme was ATTITUDE:

I was going to write something about the attitudes that my children seem to be adopting lately and then go on some unbridled rant about how our society and television/movies and advertising have really messed with the minds of our children and turned them into snarky Bart Simpson-types but on nasty steroids. But then I thought, "Why not take on a POSITIVE attitude about this topic?" So, at the risk of turning into Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (read it here for free, folks) or nauseate everyone with a Pollyanna take on the hard realities of life, here goes.... (And if you ARE nauseated, grab a bag and heave and then scroll to another entry because frankly, this is my blog and I'll write what I dang well please...)

When things go wrong in my day, I have two choices: I can choose to allow them to bother me OR I can choose to accept them as a necessary part of some life-long learning curve and move on.

If I choose to allow them to bother me, I have two choices: I can choose to allow them to fester throughout my day and permeate everything I say and do, thereby spilling over into relationships that may have nothing to do with the initial disaster OR I can choose to let them just bother me for a bit, get it out of my system, scream into a pillow, and then move on.

If I choose to allow them to fester throughout my day and permeate everything I say and do, I have two choices: I can choose to treat every person in my path as though somehow, somewhere, sometime, they contributed to the disaster (even though it's likely that they didn't) OR I can choose to recognize what led to the disaster and who actually may have contributed to it (if anyone other than myself) and then deal with it appropriately and move on.

If I choose to treat every person in my path as though somehow, somewhere, sometime, they contributed to the disaster (even though it's likely that they didn't), I have two choices: I can choose to be a total hag and refuse to take anyone else's feelings into consideration possibly ruining someone else's day and possibly causing them to scream at the next person they meet or kick a dog or something OR I can choose to take responsibility for my own actions, apologize for any outburst that may have unfairly been aimed at unsuspecting and innocent bystanders and move on.

If I choose to be a total hag and refuse to take anyone else's feelings into consideration, I have two choices: I can accept that someone may retaliate and make my day even worse or I can lock myself in a quiet place, pray for patience, peace and most of all for forgiveness from my God for being a total hag and then move on.

I figure that rather than go down this path and all it's side-trails, I might as well just cut to the chase and MOVE ON. So that's my take on how attitude can affect the rest of my day and ultimately the rest of my life. Get over it... recognize my own responsibilities for things, and MOVE ON.

**Please don't hold me to this too strictly when I next rant about something somebody did that affected me negatively or the next time I belabor some point about the unfairness of life. I'm just dealing with it and moving on. :D**

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