I’m puzzled by your comment that using gratitude, kindness, and compassion might serve to avoid conflict? To me that’s a good application of those traits?! An “old Gail” observation? Yet there was the “old and blue” antecedent qualifier. Your closing remark seems to confirm my guess about “old Gail.” (Far from old ...)
Between you and Sarah it’s almost as if you’ve thrown down the gauntlet! “Know who you are and be brave about it! Now! Not tomorrow!” We know Tal is quick to work on her twirls, but today shows her emotional intelligence at work. Who inspires whom?
What a gift when we “discover” our true selves as we read or converse or listen to speakers or music! (Compassion practice) But a word of caution: remember to leave all the other folks’ b.s. on shore when you go paddle boarding. Balance. 😁
Okay, taking one word from your piece and running in an orthogonal direction...
Binkies! Our older west coast niece had a strong binkie habit when she was 2. Her mother (my sister) determined No More Binkies after her 3rd birthday. Which her daughter was fine about. “What happens at three, Hailey?” “No more binkies!” the child answered cheerfully. And surrendered her binkies on her birthday.
Just not ALL of them.
Under mattresses, behind pillows, in drawers... Hailey continued to get her binkie fix for weeks after her birthday.
That was over 20 years ago. She has since graduated summa cum laude from SFSU and is working for the LA Galaxy (MLS team) as an account executive.
“...gratitude, kindness, and compassion give us space to respond… instead of react.”
This is in my opinion the GOLD in this post...
What separates us from the entire rest of the animal kingdom is the ability to think and reason.
The challenge, is that we don’t always remember that we have the ability and sometimes we let circumstances, or a knee-jerk response get the better of us. Then, once we realize what we’ve done, we are usually beating ourselves up with some form of internal dialogue that we wouldn’t spout at our worst enemy, let alone a friend.
A vicious circle for sure...
A different way?
PBRR!
Pause, Breathe, Reflect, RESPOND
When we respond versus react, we give ourselves time to quiet our pesky ego (separate from) that only wants to be right and to assert our position as the only right one, not acknowledging that WE are the ones bringing meaning to everything we experience!
I’m puzzled by your comment that using gratitude, kindness, and compassion might serve to avoid conflict? To me that’s a good application of those traits?! An “old Gail” observation? Yet there was the “old and blue” antecedent qualifier. Your closing remark seems to confirm my guess about “old Gail.” (Far from old ...)
Between you and Sarah it’s almost as if you’ve thrown down the gauntlet! “Know who you are and be brave about it! Now! Not tomorrow!” We know Tal is quick to work on her twirls, but today shows her emotional intelligence at work. Who inspires whom?
What a gift when we “discover” our true selves as we read or converse or listen to speakers or music! (Compassion practice) But a word of caution: remember to leave all the other folks’ b.s. on shore when you go paddle boarding. Balance. 😁
Okay, taking one word from your piece and running in an orthogonal direction...
Binkies! Our older west coast niece had a strong binkie habit when she was 2. Her mother (my sister) determined No More Binkies after her 3rd birthday. Which her daughter was fine about. “What happens at three, Hailey?” “No more binkies!” the child answered cheerfully. And surrendered her binkies on her birthday.
Just not ALL of them.
Under mattresses, behind pillows, in drawers... Hailey continued to get her binkie fix for weeks after her birthday.
That was over 20 years ago. She has since graduated summa cum laude from SFSU and is working for the LA Galaxy (MLS team) as an account executive.
“...gratitude, kindness, and compassion give us space to respond… instead of react.”
This is in my opinion the GOLD in this post...
What separates us from the entire rest of the animal kingdom is the ability to think and reason.
The challenge, is that we don’t always remember that we have the ability and sometimes we let circumstances, or a knee-jerk response get the better of us. Then, once we realize what we’ve done, we are usually beating ourselves up with some form of internal dialogue that we wouldn’t spout at our worst enemy, let alone a friend.
A vicious circle for sure...
A different way?
PBRR!
Pause, Breathe, Reflect, RESPOND
When we respond versus react, we give ourselves time to quiet our pesky ego (separate from) that only wants to be right and to assert our position as the only right one, not acknowledging that WE are the ones bringing meaning to everything we experience!
H
A
L
T
Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired?
A powerful TOOL for reflection!
TY!
🙏🏼🕊️🙏🏼