Like I've said before, I am not a positive person. I'm pretty much a pessimist. However, my pessimistic ways are starting to rub off on my children. I guess that's the motivation I've needed to try and change my ways and become more positive. It's sad when your seven-year-old goes on and on about how horrible his life is and how it would be much better if he lived somewhere else or had something else. Kind of a wake-up call that I need to change so he can change.
So....
I've given him the challenge of focusing on only positive things. At the end of every day, we will write down together five things that we are grateful for that day. I think I might start a "positive jar"--fill it with marbles for positive thoughts and take them away for negative ones, and try to earn something fun with it. And I have to do it too. I even talked to him about that, if he catches me complaining or being negative, he is allowed to remove a marble from the jar for me.
What do you think?
Maybe both he and I can change our thinking to be more positive. And then maybe he won't get "feeling" sick quite so much. I honestly think he doesn't feel well because he is so negative and always afraid of not feeling well, which causes him to not feel well. So we are going to work on that and see if there is any truth in "the power of positive thinking!"
3 comments:
May I recommend the book The Happiness Project by Gretchin Rubin. It's a wonderful book. The author realized that life was slipping away from her too fast and wanted to really live in a happy way. She focused on one virture or value a month, and continued to work on the previous goals from the earlier months.
What I liked about it was that instead of wishing her life was different in ways that weren't practical, she looked at the way her life was and worked from the inside out. She also has a blog that you might find interesting. I also liked that she didn't say, you have to follow my exact pattern to find happiness, but counseled looking at your own life and going from there.
The blog is: http://www.happiness-project.com/
I think your idea of a gratitude jar is a good one.
You made me think about something I need to change so that my kids can change. Thanks for the reminder.
Good idea and good job :()
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