Reaction is a choice…what a wonderful follow-up to the Week 7 lesson of squashing negative thoughts with positive thoughts!
I’ve often heard the suggestion (and I’d bet that you have too) to focus my time and energy on the things I can control and to not worry about the things I cannot control. It made sense to me the first time I heard it and it still makes sense to me today. Have I done a good job at it? Um, no, I haven’t…SHAME ON ME! Although I understood and agreed with the concept on an intellectual level, supporting it on an emotional level just wasn’t happening. I don’t think I realized very much that I was allowing that to happen, but after becoming aware of my negativity last week, I’m realizing in a BIG way that I had lost control of myself emotionally.
Stimulus –> Choice –> Response. There it is, plain and simple. I live with the shame of now knowing that, more often than not, my choices were wrong and my responses were even worse. I’ve been allowing my negatively to run around unchecked….to seep into my responses and reactions….to be less of a person than I really am.
Change begins with awareness. Well, now I’m aware…and very excited to have begun applying my new-found awareness into a change for the better.
Mandino’s Scroll Marked II: “I greet this day with love in my heart”. I think I get it…I really think I get it!
Peace to all, Jerry B
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