WHAT APPEARS TO BE
A reader writes, “You can’t be positive all the time. You have to be down once in a while, you have to have bad days, so that you can be up, too.”
Really? Who says?
WHAT MIGHT BE
Have you ever noticed that the people in your life who are challenged with maintaining productive attitudes are the ones who find ways to rationalize their poor attitudes? We can rationalize anything.
The truth is, because it is a choice, we can be “up” whenever we want to. This fact irritates those who haven’t cultivated the skill to execute the attitude of their choice. So, they defend themselves by rationalizing that a poor attitude — and more often than not, poor behavior — is justified.
I know this, because I play this game.
WHAT CAN BE
I recently listened to a person, who is largely responsible for contributing to the poor results her team is delivering, say “I’m a pretty positive person, but there are just times when you HAVE to vent.”
The blood left my face. How many times have I felt that I’m a pretty good guy, but then rationalize garbage talk by stating, “But let me tell you what irritates me about him.” I then proceed to dump crap, only to wonder why my life becomes so miserable in those moments.
I am learning. In those moments, in those Magic Moments, I can rationalize my poor attitude, BUT then I must understand that I can’t complain when things are falling apart around me. I — ME — I am the one who created the conditions. And it all began by rationalizing my “need to be down sometimes.”
If we have to be “down” a certain percentage of the
time, why don’t we decide, upon awakening each morning, which hours through the day we’ll commit to crap. Scheduling misery…hmmm. Talk about a life dedicated to mediocrity.
There’s a better approach.
What is the difference between what “might be” and what “can be”? You decide.
