Day 136

Something learned:

There was a time in my life when I was much angrier. I let things that annoy or irritate me capture my attention. I would give vent to anger, cuss, and let the negative emotion permeate. After a couple of years of this, I decided that I had a choice not to let myself be poisoned by my own anger.

I still get angry every now and then. but after I acknowledge the cause and my own reaction, I am usually able to release it and recover completely. My anger is usually an emotional, not a logical, response, and I think that when I am aware of it, I disarm it.

I've chosen not to give any power to anger. Life's too short to spend any of it in rancor. Don't Be Angry.

Something I'd like to get better at:

Cryptics. Last weekend's puzzle hunt had a puzzle that was half cryptics half sudoku, and Myles solved the first half as effortlessly as I did the latter half. I couldn't even pipe up with any answer suggestions because my jaw was on the ground.

Today I was thankful for:

1. Having enough points to redeem for $50 worth of free gift cards.
2. Finally getting my code to work. 2 weeks of struggling, and now it's working!
3. Kid getting invited to a playdate.
4. Kid enjoying a nature documentary about the Honey Badger.

5. Blogger saving the draft of this blog post before Chrome crashed.

Looking forward to:

Learning to sing the Queen of the Night aria. I never thought I'd get excited about opera :)

Day 134

I've been having trouble getting back into the rhythm of blogging (obviously). Can't give up though.

Something learned:

I've learned to stop holding on to anger. Anger wastes my limited emotional resources on something that doesn't benefit me at all.  I have no lack of positive motivation. I work at authentic conflict resolution so I won't hold grudges.

Even if I still lose my temper on some occasions, I continue to strive to walk away from triggers, acknowledge and release any anger that does arise, or just remember that certain things don't matter enough to be angry over. I am the primary party who who benefits, it seems like the no-brainer choice.

Something I'd like to get better at:

Conversation. My socials skills are rusty and I forget that the purpose of talking to people is connection. Perhaps it's time to force myself to spend more time with people that I don't know well.

Today I was thankful for:

1. Managing to clean up the house in an hour this morning

2. Remembering in time to stop off and drop off the money I owed Christina.

3. That bumping the curb didn't seem to do any damage to my hubcap 

4. Getting to the kid's school, TKD class, and violin class, all on time.

5. Kid liking broccoli enough to eat the last of it.

Looking forward to:

Visiting South Carolina for the first time next week!