So...Our New Catch Phrase

"Are you thinking of the sucker?  Or the rock?"

We've been working a lot on our attitudes over here (myself included) and practicing looking for the good in each situation.  Our family has a whole lot to be grateful for.  There's not really any reason for any of us to be discontent, unsatisfied, or to whine and complain, yet it still happens. 

A couple weeks ago we used family home evening as an opportunity to try and teach the concept of positive thinking.  I repeated an activity I saw at Pack Night a while back, that I knew my kids would think was fun.  So we tried it out.

Each kid (and Husband) put a pretty good size rock in their shoe.  Then I put a sucker in each of their mouths.  I instructed them to walk all around our yard - around the mailbox, to the tree and back, run a little, etc.  I heard a lot of "ow!" and "this rock hurts!"  When they were all done (Third Daughter eventually just took her shoe off) I asked them how their walk was.  Each one of them explained how much it hurt and how hard it was because of the rock in their shoe.  My reply was, "but what about the sucker in your mouth?"

The idea was to show them that even though there was something hard and painful about their walk (the rock) there was also something sweet and fun (the sucker).  They could choose what to focus on - the rock or the sucker.  Focusing on the sucker wouldn't make the rock go away, but it would help them keep a positive attitude and could make the walk more enjoyable and bearable. 

This clicked with them.  They got it.  It was pretty cool to see the light bulbs go off as they gave me example after example of how to look on the bright side, how to think of the "sucker," in different, hard situations.

They've been practicing keeping a positive attitude.  They've been trying not to complain.  I'm very proud of them for remembering and trying to apply this lesson in their lives.  It can be a tough thing to learn, but an important one.  I'm still working on it too!



It may not be Friday yet, but Husband and I get a date night tonight and I can't wait.
He's taking me on his motorcycle :)
Happy Thursday everyone!



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