So, in light of changing the default emotions from negative to positive, how do you handle the "grumpies", as we've come to call them in our house? I catch myself telling my kids that they "don't get to be grumpy", because in my mind they have no reason to be grumpy. How hypocritical! I feel completely justified to indulge my negative emotions, but tell my kids to "shape up or ship out" essentially! So two things I'm working on here: not indulging and justifying my grumpiness, and using these skills to help Cora learn how to work through the grumpies, rather than just telling her to "snap out of it". (Peter's "grumpies" are still pretty closely linked with the joys of being 1 - new teeth, communication frustration, etc.)
But I could use your help! When you have the grumpies - either you or your kids - how do you work through them and realign yourselves towards more positive thoughts?
Someone going through a valley asked me to pray for them in a very specific way; so I wanted to make sure I honored my word in saying I would pray for them and set my phone alarm to remind me every morning for 2 weeks to stop and say a pray for them. In doing that, they were also on my mind throughout the rest of the day and it kept me reminded of how blessed I am... not a quick fix, but I think more of a change of heart when we pray for those who are struggling with something worse than we've dealt with.
ReplyDeleteObviously I am behind on reading your blog. Anyway, prayer obviously is a great place to start, but we also have found that doing things different or making up some fun change is a boost at our house. For example we might have lunch under the table--picnic style, have a backwards day by putting all of our clothes on backwards and walking backwards where you are going. Declare it pirates day & draw on mustaches & put bandanas on your heads and be creative with drawing tatoos, etc. We just find something simple that is crazy and different to try and make us smile and give a little variety to everyday life that can get boring day after day.
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