You guys know how much I like Dr. Kevin Elko from my previous post I Said to Myself. Do you ever feel like certain messages you hear were tailored specifically for you? Well, this morning’s Monday Morning Cup of Inspiration spoke directly to me. It talks about how self-pity destroys everything around it.
How many times have I found myself venting to friends (sorry Lee), family (sorry Mom) or even those of you I don’t know who read my blog yesterday Hostage Negotiating? It’s called venting because we build up so many negative thoughts that if we don’t let some out, we will explode!
The definition of self-pity is, excessive, self-absorbed unhappiness over one’s own troubles. Now I don’t know about you, but that’s a bunch of words I don’t like. Excessive anything is usually not a good thing, I don’t want to be self-absorbed and unhappiness, no thank you! Sure I may have a hard day (hard in my mind anyway) but, if I focus on what was hard and wallow in my own self-pity, not only do I affect my own productivity but I also bring down those around me.
As Dr. Elko said, I need to “practice to eradicate self-pity.” I need to practice gratitude! What better time to start than this week… Thanksgiving week. I am going to work extra hard, looking for the good and positive instead of the negative.
I find that if I write something down I tend to actually remember it. I already keep a daily journal but I am now going to start adding a page up front for things I’m thankful for that day. I read that gratitude journaling helps to slowly change the way we perceive situations by adjusting what we focus on. You want to get specific… If you just write, “I’m thankful for my family” every day, then you just keep writing the same things without thinking about it… it doesn’t allow for fresh grateful moments. For example, today, instead of writing “I’m thankful for great friends” I wrote, “I’m thankful for wonderful friends that invite us to spend Thanksgiving with their family as we do not have family close by.” I’m going to try to make a point to stretch myself beyond the things right in front of me and open my eyes to more of the things around me to enhance my gratitude attitude.
What are you thankful for?
