I’m going to tell on myself, and I’m going to laugh while I do it. After all, I have more fun laughing at myself than I’ve EVER had laughing at anyone else. Added bonus, I rarely feel guilty when my laughs are on me!
I was on the phone with someone last week, and she began the conversation with, “I am a positive person. I try very hard to never complain about anything. People who complain all the time annoy me to no end! As a matter of fact, the other day…” and she proceeded to complain about her daughter, friends at church, relatives out of state, and a few other people. Apparently, they are all negative, complain, and find fault with others. She was really annoyed with all their complaining. Oh, the irony!
A few days later, I was talking with a neighbor. His conversation started, “I am such a positive person. I simply cannot understand why people need to complain so much! You should have heard…” and the litany of complaints began. The neighbor, the wife, the mechanic, the guy on the next machine at the gym… Apparently, my neighbor had met up with a lot of complaining people in the past week, and was really annoyed with their complaining. Oh, more irony!
I met up with my girlfriends this past weekend. You guessed it! No sooner had one of the ladies joined the group than she started, “My boss is such a _____. She drives me crazy with her complaining! She’s never happy and nothing is ever good enough. You know, I’m a positive person, but people like that…” Out of curiosity, I timed it. The complaining went on, unabated, for five minutes. No one else even said anything during the first round. Yes, more complaining followed, as I mentally giggled at the irony.
In my happy little world, if the same thing comes up three times in rapid succession, there is a message in it that I need to pay attention to. Yes, I am aware of this, but sometimes I’m a little slow on the uptake.
I was talking to Greg after the girl’s outing. I looked over at him and said, “I cannot believe how much time people spend complaining about other people when they claim to be so positive!” I’m really not sure how I missed the ironic grin on his face, but I did manage to finally HEAR MYSELF at some point in the conversation.
Oh, the irony of it all. I’m a positive person! I am a Certified Life Coach and I CONSCIOUSLY CHOOSE to take a POSITIVE FOCUS! And, yes, I’m laughing at myself. It is so much more fun than beating myself up. It’s also a lot more fun than continuing to complain.
Thank you, Universe, for the gentle reminders to become aware of what is coming out of my mouth. It can only come out of my mouth if it is living somewhere inside me. What does that say about what is living in there? More irony.
Today, I choose to shift my own conversation back to celebrating the good! After all, there’s lots of it to celebrate!
True, Joanna.
It is a challenge to rise above what we hear and see, and stay positive, keeping gently indifferent to the drama we migth otherwise participate in by being judgemental.