Challenge: eliminate negative thoughts, talk

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The challenge: 24 hours without a negative thought or complaining. Oh. Boy.

It started well. I made it five hours until the evening news showed a hate crime, and I made a negative comment about the state of world affairs. I just don’t understand such disrespect. So, I had to start over. I made it half an hour before the dog passed gas. Well, you can know how that went. I complained about the stench as I rushed to open the doors for fresh air and to shoo the dog out. On it went. I intended to go without a grumble or bad thought, but it seems I am a Negative Nellie, a Complaining Connie, a Miserable Michelle.

Brilliant news flash! I’ll start fresh when I wake up. Yowl. Screech. A cat fight jolts me awake. Don’t say it. Don’t think it.

The ways I fail challenge

Have you tried a challenge like this? Once we had a pastor who gave us purple bracelets and encouraged us to do the same thing for 22 days. I don’t recall how that went. Probably for the best. I likely didn’t succeed.

Maybe if I don’t turn on the television or radio, stay away from social media, separate the cats to different levels of the house, and push the dog outside for 24 hours I can make it. . . Maybe not. Then there is the negative self-talk when plans go awry or a mistake is made or someone offends me in some minor—or major—way.

Since adopting our oldest son’s cat, Luna, into our household, a lot of yowling takes place. The cats often don’t even get within a foot of each other, but it sounds like they are killing each other, or at least someone is getting brutalized. Once I found two batting the air furiously, but never touching each other.  Luna likes to screech as she passes the oldest cat. I suppose she thinks she can shock her to death or something? It’s more like she just wants to irritate her while she irritates the entire household. Our vet suggested we use Feliway, a phenome diffuser for cats, to help them get along. It and a calming collar have helped.

Awareness is a start

Maybe we need a human spray like that so I don’t get tempted to give my critique on the news.

Not a fan of the forget me stick, I guess I’ll keep plodding on in my attempts to not say or think anything negative.

Well, I suppose awareness is a start. Have you accepted a similar challenge? Are you working to clean up your thought life? What methods have you utilized? How did it go? Do tell.

Book club announcement

I’d like to invite anyone who is interested in joining our discussions about clean middle-grade and young adult fiction to join the Storyteller Squad Book Club. This month, we’re discussing The Other Side of Freedom by Cynthia Toney. You can read more about this month’s selection here. Join by going to the Book Club tab and clicking on Join. Invite other moms interested in learning about good books for their kids to join the fun.

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