love baby

blame. admonish. chide. all ugly words. all words I am guilty of subscribing to. in the past year I have made a very conscious effort to be more positive, but me oh my, there are times that just don't cooperate with my new attitude. I can be rude. I can be ill-tempered. I can be downright mean. and each and every time I act in that fashion I immediately regret it. I ask for forgiveness and patience. I ask for others to have patience with me. but instead of seeking prayer to ease my bad nature. I need to ask myself why do I act irrationally. if I only stopped to think, looked before I leapt, counted to 10 (or maybe a wee bit higher) before I spoke. then I would be happier with myself. and, no doubt, others would be happier with me.

I subscribe to an e-newsletter called Vibrant Nation (which carries the enticing tagline 'what women 50+ know'). one of the featured stories was from The Art of Being Human and chronicled one woman's crusade to defeat negativity. this courageous woman blogged her way through a 90-day No Negativity Challenge. and quite effectively got a handle on the everyday, routine and unexpected, hubbub of life that irritates and frustrates. many parts of it hit home - probably a little too close to home. but what it made me realize is that we are so surrounded by negativity that we don't even hear it anymore. we just succumb to it. fall prey to it. get so swept up in it that we simply don't even see the need to take responsibility for our own actions.

it is very easy to blame others for the trials of our own life. and perhaps at times - no doubt many times - there is a catalyst that sets off a bad spell. that spell could last a moment as I lash out at a sales clerk. or weeks as I am in a funk about something that irritates me (or occasionally something my spouse has done). but what I need to remind myself of is that I can control how I deal with the situation. and if I keep passing on the blame to others the spell never fades. I need to take responsibility for myself and make the situation better by being more accepting. more appreciative. more giving. more loving. more honest. more open. kinder. gentler. more human in being.

blogger watermusic says it best when you're dealing with negativity in your life. 'Choose. The best thing about being human besides cowboys, sex, and chocolate is that every moment of everyday we get to choose. So choose, it’s either fear or love baby. I’m choosing love. What about you?'

I want to answer that right here and now. LOVE BABY.

'I beseech you, by all angels, to hold your peace, and not pollute the morning.' ~Ralph Waldo Emerson