Thought for the week from Karla’s Korner: Negativity Hurts

Thought for the week from Karla’s Korner!

I am proud to introduce a new column to Madame Deals! I think we all need a touch point a place we can go to be inspired. Karla is my children’s teacher, a good friend, and a person with a heart of gold. I hope that her words will inspire you to do more. We are only as good as the people we surround ourselves with. It is important to listen with your heart and proceed with your eyes open. Enjoy!

In the past week I have been honked at, flipped off, yelled at and practically shoved out of someone’s way. By the end of the week I decided that I was going to go home and stay; go into hiding so to speak. When my son asked me why I had chosen to be anti-social I shared with him that I was in need of some peace and quiet and that the outside world was just a bit much for me to deal with right now. As Saturday morning arrived I greeted the day with a cup of coffee and a bit of quiet time before I tackled my weekly chores and laundry. With my house clean I showered, dressed in a clean pair of pajamas and began working on the six loads of laundry that had been sorted and placed neatly in baskets. With the entire afternoon in front of me I took the opportunity to curl up in my chair with my favorite camp blanket turn on the television and enjoy having nowhere to go and nothing to do (other than the laundry). Snow began to fall and as I watched the big fluffy flakes drift to the ground I found myself at peace; something that I had not felt for most of the week.

As I sat in my comfy chair with un-done hair, no make-up and fuzzy frog socks I wondered why there is so much anger in our world. We live in a free country where we can do and be anything we want to be. Even in the most difficult of times anger, hatred and inconsideration for one another should not be the norm. Does being mean to someone else make us feel better? Is yelling at someone in the parking lot for taking “our” space really necessary? Is pushing someone out of the way in the grocery store line because we are in a hurry really necessary? And why must everyone try to prove a point?

Last week a 22 year old man walked into the local Kroger grocery store carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle over his shoulder. Now according to this man he was merely carrying the gun because as a legal gun owner he had the right to do. He was simply demonstrating his 2nd Amendment rights to carry a gun. He was proving a point. Naturally there has been an enormous amount of debate on this subject from both sides of the argument. And while I am all for gun rights and legally owning a gun I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would think that it was okay to walk around carrying an assault rifle in a grocery store just because he can. For the love of all things sacred, would you not think that this would cause some sort of “stir”? What would have happened if someone else who was carrying their gun legally felt threatened and opened fire on this guy causing him to be injured or killed? Whose fault would it be then? He might be dead but hey, he proved his point.

So here’s my question for thought to ponder this week. What would happen if we all just stopped trying to be right all the time and worked toward being a little kinder, gentler and less right? What would happen if we put aside our negative behavior and went about our daily lives with a positive attitude? As the receiver of a lot of negativity this week I encourage you to think about your words, your actions and reactions to those around you. Negativity hurts. Don’t allow yourself to fall into the trap of wanting to be right all the time that you forget to think about the consequences of your actions towards others. In the words of famed author Roald Dahl “If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until it gets so ugly you can hardly bear to look at it. A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” For me, I choose sunbeams over ugliness…how about you?

Peace,
Karla

For more thought for the week, check out all of Karla’s Korner articles here. Also, please visit Karla’s Lifetime Moms page and read her articles.

Thought for the week