Put it up to the light.
Yesterday we talked about how we protect money or what money can buy, more than we protect our time. Let's go a step further. Whether you"re in business for yourself or selling goods in the aftermarket, lets say someone pays you with a $100 bill. What do you do? You hold the bill up to the light to ensure its authenticity. You feel the paper and take a slow, careful look at it. Why? You want to make sure you get what you think you've received.
Why don't we do the same with our opinions or first impressions? We get angry. We fill up with rage. We jump to assumptions and conclusions that are baseless. What if we held up all these feelings, negative thoughts, negative self-talk, to the light? What could come from the inspection of our feelings and thoughts if we slowed down enough to see if thy are in fact, authentic?
For money we go to great lengths to secure it, earn it, get more of it (even through illegal means) and to ensure what we have is real. We can also go to greater lengths to see if our thoughts, impressions and opinions have any foundation to stand on. We would be surprised to see how few of them are real, once we examine them up close. Instead of being ruled by them.
Does anger do anything productive? Does rage solve a problem? Does negativity or negative self-talk contribute to anything useful? NO. Hold it all to the light for clarity.