Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Thu, Nov 13 2003
It Really Is All About Me
Life has been teaching me some painful lessons lately, so I've been on the lookout for positive coping skills. I really liked some of the tips at Rules for Successful Living. Some days Number 10 is the big one for me. Other days I need to read Number 14 a few times. Some of the tips seem to work against one another though. If I follow Number 11 and Number 12, I'm going to have to make some tough choices that will make a few of the other tips even tougher to follow and still show acceptance to others. In the end I quit reading that list and ended up reading another story or two about successful relationships in general. I loved the remark they made about the squeaky wheel. Up until now, I've always heard people who want to speak about trouble use a similar (but very different expression). I've always heard "the squeaky wheel gets the grease", rather than "the squeakiest wheel often gets replaced first". That first saying puts me in the awful position of thinking I'll have the upper hand in a situation if I just open my mouth and let somebody hear my complaints. The second saying puts me in a position to help me realize just how much power I actually give up when I criticize and complain.
But that's still not the biggest lesson I have to learn. The big lesson is trying to internalize the fact that each of us can only successfully apply these lessons to ourselves--never to anyone else. It's still way too tempting for me to say, "So-and-so could really benefit from learning this stuff."
posted at: 08:23 | category: /Miscellaneous | link to this entry
Life has been teaching me some painful lessons lately, so I've been on the lookout for positive coping skills. I really liked some of the tips at Rules for Successful Living. Some days Number 10 is the big one for me. Other days I need to read Number 14 a few times. Some of the tips seem to work against one another though. If I follow Number 11 and Number 12, I'm going to have to make some tough choices that will make a few of the other tips even tougher to follow and still show acceptance to others. In the end I quit reading that list and ended up reading another story or two about successful relationships in general. I loved the remark they made about the squeaky wheel. Up until now, I've always heard people who want to speak about trouble use a similar (but very different expression). I've always heard "the squeaky wheel gets the grease", rather than "the squeakiest wheel often gets replaced first". That first saying puts me in the awful position of thinking I'll have the upper hand in a situation if I just open my mouth and let somebody hear my complaints. The second saying puts me in a position to help me realize just how much power I actually give up when I criticize and complain.
But that's still not the biggest lesson I have to learn. The big lesson is trying to internalize the fact that each of us can only successfully apply these lessons to ourselves--never to anyone else. It's still way too tempting for me to say, "So-and-so could really benefit from learning this stuff."
posted at: 08:23 | category: /Miscellaneous | link to this entry
