In his book “the no complaining rule:” Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity at work: Jon Gordon suggests the But–Positive Technique. It works like this. When you realize you are complaining, you add the word but and then you add a positive thought or positive action.
It was Thanksgiving and Charlie Brown was enjoying a feast with his family. Poor Snoopy wasn’t invited. Snoopy was all alone on his doghouse with dog food and a dog bone. He wasn’t a happy camper. But then he had a thought that changed everything. He thought it could be worse. I could have been born a turkey. A classic example of the But…..Positive technique.
Over the past several weeks I have found myself being somewhat cynical and critical. I have noticed my sleeping habits are noticeably different. Whether resting or awake, I feel drained. I have an unexplainable headache and my lower back is starting to get next to me. As of this writing, I read that the popularity of Putin, Russian President, has risen to 87 percent among the Russian people since his invasion of Ukraine. This completely escapes all reason. Has the world turned upside-down and everybody is right in their own eyes?
What gives? I have begun the “thought of positive action” with every negative I have placed the ‘but’ and put forth a positive action to replace the negative. I hasten to add, in many cases, this is difficult to do, however, negativism is a giant killer.
With waves crashing and thrashing over their boat’s stern, the disciples were understandably in a state of panic. Jesus? He was fast asleep.
Jesus was noted for leaving the chaos and sneaking away, He was able to welcome in the calm that surpasses understanding because of God.
“Be still.”
Two words were all it took to calm the waters. Being apart from the panic allowed Jesus time to reconnect with His Father and to push away the noise–literally and figuratively. I plan to take a similar course of action in my own life and push away for a period of time.
This week I encourage you to slip away, pray, repeat and ‘be still’. Let me know how adding these habits into your routine serves you in your daily life. I would love for you to e-mail me and share your thoughts. I am always a text away. Gary
