Friday, May 18, 2012

What I Meant to Say

It’s kind of funny how often we learn lessons through our kids. Just this morning for example, I was having a chat with Andrew about putting a positive spin on things. He has been struggling with a major attitude problem these last few weeks, and I am trying to get him to exchange positive thoughts for negative ones.

This is a trick I learned while living with my friend Marla. I am a pessimistic person by nature, so my thoughts and comments tend to flow in a negative direction. Marla, on the other hand, is one of those happy-go-lucky, overly-optimistic people that kind of makes you want to gag (when you aren’t wishing you were more like her). Whenever I would say anything negative within her hearing she would happily correct me, “What you meant to say was…,” and then she would voice the same thought in a positive light. Here are a couple of my common complaints paired with their positive counterparts:

My husband is never here; he works all the time.
My husband has a steady job that provides for our family financially.

My kids are making too much noise—it’s driving me crazy!
My kids may be loud, but they are having fun and staying out of trouble (mostly).

I am too tired to get anything done today.
I am lucky to have a flexible job that allows me to rest when I need to.

Of course as I went through this discussion with Andrew I realized that I was giving him instructions that I myself haven’t been able to follow. I guess it’s time for the entire Schnabel family to undergo some positivity training. I think the picture I swiped from a friend’s facebook page this morning best captures the essence of today’s lesson:



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