Why would I do that? And yet, how many of us do that to ourselves on a continual basis?<\/p>\n
I made a commitment to myself some time ago, and I was recently reminded of that personal promise.<\/p>\n
As I mentioned in last week\u2019s newsletter, I hosted a mini-family reunion at my home during the solar eclipse. (We were lucky enough to live in the center of the path of totality and, by the way, it was awesome!)<\/p>\n
Because everyone was traveling some distance, I had planned and prepared the meals for the entire weekend. Everyone helped out, but I still felt the responsibility of making sure everything ran smoothly.<\/p>\n
During one of the meals, the listed serving size for the main dish turned out to be way off and I could see we might run out. I quickly pulled out some leftovers that would be enough to make up the difference.<\/p>\n
As is my tendency, I cranked the heat up high and then promptly forgot about the food on the stove. To state the obvious, I burned the food. It was still edible, though obviously scorched. I was irritated and frustrated with myself and getting myself worked up about my mistake, when my brother kindly told me to stop worrying and said, \u201cIn the words of Julia Childs, \u201cDon\u2019t apologize for providing food.\u201d In his own words, he added, \u201cStop bringing attention to it. Most people won\u2019t notice.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was right. There was still plenty of other food. No one was going hungry and my impatience with myself was only going to make others uncomfortable. And of course, it all turned out just fine.<\/p>\n
As I was still feeling bad about the incident later that day, I thought about what he had said and asked myself, Do I really want to keep adding energy to feeling bad about the one small portion of one meal that wasn\u2019t perfect and let that overshadow the 3 days of meals that were great?! <\/strong><\/p>\n Why would I do that? And yet, how many of us do that to ourselves on a continual basis?<\/p>\n Think of events you\u2019ve been part of, or planned or even in just your day to day living. What do you tend to focus on \u2013 the many, wonderful things that went right (maybe so right that you didn\u2019t even notice them) or that one thing that you wish was different? And are you really going to let that one thing over shadow and diminish the positive of everything that was right<\/strong>?!<\/p>\nHow often have I focused on the one thing that went wrong instead of all the wonderful things that went right?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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