Words to Ponder

I stumbled across some interesting quotes today, and this one really caught my eye:

“Don’t be yourself–be someone a little nicer.”

~ Mignon McLaughlin

I love this quote.  Talk about a teeny tiny little slap in the face. Hmm.  I'm not nice? I consider myself a pretty nice person, but it does bring to mind things that you could improve upon.  Even though I do consider myself perfect--we all have our faults, myself included.  So I guess I am perfect in that I am very much my own person, lumps and all. By considering myself perfect, I have to say I think I'm right all of the time.  But, of course I am not.  I am human, after all.  This is especially true when another person so blatantly points it out with quite the obvious proof.  Yep, I have inserted feet into mouth after such times. I am awfully stubborn by nature, but I do think I am aware enough in my own fallibility that if you make a good argument, you may be able to sway my opinion on something. Bearing this in mind, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea if I were a little bit open minded on things.

I consider myself to be a pretty laid back person, but I do have type A tendencies.  These mostly come into view when I am tasked with being in charge of something, or when a something needs to be completed and I am getting down to the wire to complete it.  In every day life, this translates into not allowing enough time to get ready for departure.  I'd have to say that this is one of my worst qualities--by not allowing enough time to get out the door, it results in a last second scramble to get everything necessary together and results in a rather snarky mom.  Most of the time this results in me snapping at my kiddos to get it together, and the current pet peeve of the year is when I tell them to do something, they just stand there and stare at me.  Oh man.  Nothing makes my blood boil more than being ignored by my kids, and while I am standing there over top of you giving you a direct order, no less.  This results in my voice slowly rising to crescendo, and my hubby feels as though it just results in my yelling before heading out for the day.  In a perfect world, if I just start getting my ass in gear 10 or 15 minutes earlier, we'd all probably be more pleasant in the morning.  But do I do it?  I try every now and then, but often fall short.  Inevitably I get caught up in one last e-mail, one last google search or trying to finish off the last of my crossword puzzle.  I'm thankful that the more relaxed summer protocol should alleviate this issue somewhat, but it's something that I consider a work in progress and really hope to improve on some day.  Based on my years of running after buses to get to school during high school, I'm not to sure how lucky I'll be, but I'd at least like to strive for it.

When I am tasked in charge of something, I tend to not want to waste much time and as a result if I have an idea of how to accomplish something, I tend to want it done that way to get it done, so I can move onto the next task.  I hate wasting time doing unnecessary stuff, or worse doing double work if someone else has already done something, and find that I've done it too.  Bearing these attributes in mind, I guess I could be considered by some to be bossy or domineering.  I don't mean to be.  I just want get everything done that needs to be done, so I can cross the activity off of my list.  So, if ever I find myself in charge of something, I'd like to work on being a bit more open minded and maybe slow down a tad if I'm working with others so I don't appear to be so bitchy in my haste to accomplish what needs to be done.

Hmm.  How else can I be a little bit nicer?  Even though I don't consider myself a huge gossiper, there's always room for improvement.  Most of the time, I can't be bothered with keeping up with this or that of one person or another, after all, to each his own.  As long as you are not hurting anyone, who am I to say?  But, again, I am human, and every now and then it's hard not to let fly some snippy comment that probably is better left unsaid.  I'd like to try harder to prevent this from happening, and think a little bit harder before letting my lips loose.  I guess just taking a little breath and really thinking before I speak would be a good start.

One of those things that I try really hard to do on a daily basis is to really notice some of the people that I am surrounded by.  It's not very hard for me to get caught up in my own life and not really pay much attention to what and who's going on around me.  Although my hubby thinks I'm a bit of a goofball, I often chat it up with strangers.  It really makes me feel good to have a personal connection with ordinary folks that I encounter every day.  I enjoy saying for example, "That's a nice hairstyle.",  "What a pretty blouse.", "What a well behaved child." --and truly mean it when I say it. To me it doesn't hurt anybody, and you never know when you are giving someone that lift that they need to make their day a little brighter.  This seems one of the easiest ways that I can strive to be nicer because it takes so little effort.  I just have snap out of it more often when going about my daily business and actually make it so.

I love the concept of paying it forward, too.  I have often given things to others for no reason, or just for fun if I know that they are having a rough time of it.  But one thing that I think I'd like to work on is to do so anonymously. As much as it's terrific to see someone appreciate your efforts, it's kind of nice to know that you've helped someone that you know needs your help without them knowing you've done so.  I think I'd like to set this as a goal to do more often.  Cause it's just nice.

Do you have any ways that you'd like to be a nicer person? Do you see qualities in others that are decidedly not nice that you think they can change?