I am working on this. Silence as an answer. I get frustrated when people yell at me and behave badly. I want to lash out with words to wipe the smirk off their face. I know that I cannot, but I get very tired of two year old temper tantrums in the supposedly adult population of the world I live in. I am exhausted by the bad behavior of others. I get equally exhausted by the frustrations of my teens who are getting ready to get out of school. It is finals, field trips, graduation, senior projects, senior trips, concerts and activity after activity after activity. Culminating in a wild summer with cousins and the other daughters summer earning money by babysitting.
This week, I am working really hard on responding to negativity with silence and a smile. I just have to make sure that they do not perceive my smile as laughter. That could get me in a whole different mess. It could also heighten the misunderstandings that already surround me.
Today, I am smiling more and frowning less. It does seem to make a difference. Maybe, not so much in the way others behave, but definitely in my own level of stress, and my own feelings of peace. It helps me to breath. I makes those bad moments seem, no so bad after all.
I am not sure that silence is always the best answer, but I am sure that I should use it more often. People really want to be listened to. They want to explain what is wrong. So, even when I know, I am trying harder to give them the chance to put it into their own words. The chance to express themselves. The chance to hear their own voices in all the noise that surrounds us.
Now, if only it worked for getting my teenagers to do the dishes.......
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