“Accentuate the Positive”

I was at the card table recently and the subject of New Year’s resolutions came up.

Having never made one, I tuned out. Resolutions tend to be so all or nothing at all.

But one of us had a different take on the subject and I perked up a bit.

She suggested that we take just one quality…an admirable one…and devote ourselves to attaining a healthy measure of that during the year. Things like Patience, Generosity, Kindness, Self-Control and Joy. There were other qualities on the list but the Joy thing grabbed me. I told myself that I’d take that one and work on it.

Well, the card game ended and, with it, my dedication to the resolution.

Worry, Grumpiness and Griping are essential to my being and I couldn’t really see an easy path toward Joy with all of them standing in the road. I knew they wouldn’t go away any time soon without putting up a fight.

But then I remembered something a friend told me years ago. At the time, I was working with some people who didn’t like me, wanted nothing to do with me and hoped I’d just go away. But I had to work with those people….every day. I was green to the work force and had no management skills. They did. The fight was on and it wasn’t an even match.

That good friend, who understood the situation, told me that what I needed to do was “neutralize” them. (No, not gangster-land “neutralize”….don’t even go there.)

Positively thinking that I could, just perhaps, gain and maintain a neutral relationship with them was the key. It made all the difference in my attitude.

I’ve decided to use that as a path for reaching my New Year’s resolution. I know I’m not going to get all the way to unbroken Joy. It’s just not in me. I’m hard wired to be half-glass-empty. But if I can “neutralize” the negativity, then that’s a start. Perhaps the goal will be attainable. Or, even better, sustainable.

We’ll see how it goes. I’m hopeful.

So there. Take that: Grumpy, Worry and Gripe!

 

 

Image thanks to @GrumpyCat/Twitter.com