WHOOP WHOOOOP! Day 10 of the Character Development Challenge a.k.a Milestone Day!

Sooooooooowwwww, I’ve been working on mah foine self all week and I think one thing I have been working hard on, with regards to self-love, is stopping the loops of self-recrimination I tend to indulge myself in by using the “Exception” tip found in the tips from the Positivity Blog.

“Find the truth and exception when an inner critic or outer critic attacks. Your own inner critic may not always say nice things about you to you. People around you may attack you or try to bring you down to serve one of their own needs. If you or someone else does this, ask yourself: what is the exception to this though? This is very effective to change your train of thoughts, to find the truth and to not get down on yourself. For example, if you or someone says that you are not doing a good job in school then you can ask the question and find answers that tell you that isn’t really true. If you question the attack and look for the exception you may for instance see that you are actually doing a good job in most of your courses, but may be a bit unfocused and lazy in math and physics. That is a more nuanced truth that helps you rather than just brings you down.”

Kneegrows and Gentlefolks, this tip is the truth y’all! Try it out and let me know. It’s worked out really well for me so far and I am really pleased. On this journey, as I said in my last post a key thing about causing a change is PERSPECTIVE! So yeah, remember the way you look at something isn’t necessarily the wrong way it’s just that there might be another way; a way that works better. Consider this old story:

The Blind Men and the Elephant
John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887)

It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
“God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a WALL!”
The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, “Ho, what have we here,
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me ’tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a SPEAR!”

The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a SNAKE!”

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee
“What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,” quoth he:
“‘Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a TREE!”

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: “E’en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a FAN!”

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a ROPE!”

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!