Second I would like to thank my mom for teaching my this valuable tool!
I am 100% guilty of never thinking before I spoke, or speaking out of anger and hurt. I'm sure it is a huge reason I don't have many friends from my past. I accept that and I'm moving forward.
It seems like a simple idea, think before you speak, think before you act, when in reality it takes a tremendous amount of self control.
By resisting to say the first thing that comes to your mind in a negative situation , you are being the bigger person. You are NOT adding fuel to the fire!
I know when my husband and I were fighting non-stop I would say the first thing that came to my mind, not considering how it would make him feel or how I wouldn't be able to take it back. We both did, there was a lot of honesty behind it all but it was the way we were approaching each other with it. We would hit below the belt way to often. Finally after many of phone calls with my mom she helped me realize what was going on. From then on I didn't respond right away, I would hear what he had to say and then think about my response. Wasn't to long after he was doing the same thing. We were finally speaking with respect and honesty.
When I was still on Facebook, I witnessed a lot on people hiding behind computer screens not having a care in the world how their criticism was hurting others. I would see struggling mothers asking for advice, and others just blasting her with h*te. This was a huge reason I jumped the Facebook ship, I didn't want to be part of a judgmental, negative community.
Couple weeks ago I was talking with one of my friends, she said they were goin to protest against planned parenthood. All I could come up with was "oh", couple moments of silence and then I said " have a great weekend" and walked inside my house. I didn't want to have a debate about abortion with one of my new friends. I didn't want our different beliefs to put a divide in our friendship. I chose to respect her decision as I would expect her to respect mine. As a woman and a mother, I don't want anyone telling me what I can and can't do with my body. By no means and I turning this into a abortion discussion but my point being had I not thought before I spoke, I would have gone off on an angry rant on my thoughts.
I've also noticed my road rage has mellowed out a lot, I used to scream, curse, flip off other drivers. (Without my kids!!) I've noticed now I just let it go, keep singing my music and take my foot off the gas a little. Now I'm not saying my road rage is completely gone, but I've definitly got it under control.
I'm not asking you to filter yourself, and not speak up for yourself! I encourage you all to be your true authentic self, but to do it will kindness, compassion, gratitude and love. Consider it your contribution to making the world a kinder, happier place!
Be Grateful.
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