miss cayce

Kicking the cat

I try to keep in mind often, an analogy on how negativity breeds negativity:

Think of an office setting where a manager unfairly barks at his secretary, his secretary then takes her frustration out on the office boy, and the office boy kicks the cat.

There are many variations of this in real life of course. Whenever I'm confronted with someone else's negativity towards me, I think to myself, "...and the office boy kicked the cat". It's a useful way to remind myself that people often unwittingly bring their own woes to their communication with you. It's not always about you; it's them with their own problems. So no point kicking the cat (because it'd probably turn around and scratch you anyway).

I'm not immune to kicking the cat however but I do apologize immediately and let them know that it's me, not them.

Negativity breeds negativity - the world doesn't need another snarky person.

I've mentioned this site before, and I'd like to do it again because she brings (almost) daily inspiration on how people should recognize the joy in their lives, and not focus on negativity all the time - after all, we all have our own share of troubles, it's how we deal with it that defines us as a person: Superhero Journal.

In her latest entry, she talks about excessively apologizing and how it can be disempowering. I'm trying not to apologize for a week but it's more difficult than I thought. Marita wants 50 cents for every 'sorry' I utter. It's crazy, I even apologize to the furniture that I've bumped into. I often apologize for something that's not even my fault or rather, something I shouldn't feel sorry for. But I do anyways. Still trying out the experiment though. After all, I also keep in mind what Dan once told me: I shouldn't say "I always do this" (for something that's negative/wrong). It's disempowering and places a mental barrier of what I can do.

I am excited about a lot of cool, happening things in my life, and the lives of my loved ones (including friends). There is so much joy to be shared, and tis the season to be joyful, eh?

posted by Cayce @ 11:07 AM