If you watch your thoughts over a full day, which by the way I recommend highly, see if you can count the number of times your mind drifts automatically toward observing, evaluating, and/or criticizing someone else’s behavior.
If we’re really honest with ourselves, it happens many times everyday. Why? Because it’s the default habit of the ego to deflect away from itself and focus on someone else.
This may seem like an odd subject to broach because doesn’t everybody already know that personal history is important?
It would seem so, but there’s a trend and push to ignore the past and just deal with the present on it’s own terms. Hmm . . . what do you think?
If you’ve ever read any success literature or listened to CD programs about how to be successful or how to reach your goals, then you’re very likely familiar with the current focus on “practicing gratitude.”
There are many ways to accomplish this including such things as keeping a gratitude journal, writing little notes of gratitude directly to people you want to thank for something, putting up reminders on the wall where you work or in your home that say something about gratitude, posting words of thanks on social media, and so on. There’s no one correct method.
You probably know what I’m going to say from reading the title before I even begin. I say that because I think we’re all familiar with using the words “always” and “never” to describe something, and especially when we’re describing someone else’s behavior.
“You always leave your clothes on the floor in your room. You never admit that you’re wrong. NEVER! She always dresses impeccably. He never eats meat.”
It’s easy to get quite overwhelmed when you have a lot to do, especially if there are timelines involved and your list covers many different areas of your life.
Most of us have work stuff, house stuff, kid stuff, relationship stuff, and any number of other things that come up periodically like getting the oil changed in the car, renewing your auto tag, making brownies for the fund raiser at school, etc. You get the picture.