The Sue Atkins Wednesday Story To Ponder

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The Sue Atkins Wednesday Story

 

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Here’s your Wednesday story from my never-ending notebook and everlasting coloured pencil.

Mole was driving along a motorway with his good friend, Badger. Mole was enjoying the drive and feeling good about the world until another car, driven by Rat, cut aggressively and dangerously in front of him.

Mole was furious. He put his foot on the accelerator and chased after Rat, flashing, hooting and gesticulating. Mole was shouting and cursing and purple with rage. Rat simply laughed to himself, made a rude gesture and accelerated away.

Mole was quite upset for the next hour. His day was totally spoilt. He felt frustrated and inadequate, as if his whole sense of masculinity had been called into question. He had been challenged and come off second best.

Badger had noticed his friend’s behaviour but had chosen to say nothing for the time being. He waited until the time was right.

Finally Mole turned and said to him, “That sort of driver makes me so angry.”

Badger replied, “Forgive me, but I’m really curious. How exactly do you allow yourself to get angry because of what another driver does?”

Mole was speechless. He had expected support. “What do you mean?”

Badger said, “What the other person did simply information about him. How you responded is information about you. How exactly did you make yourself angry as a response to the other driver’s behaviour?”

And so it was that Mole began to realise that he could choose his response to different situations. He could get angry if he wished, or stay calm and dismiss someone else’s behaviour as information about them. It didn’t have to affect him.

After that Mole began to enjoy his driving a lot more. Badger felt a lot safer in Mole’s car, and Mole’s wife noticed her husband was much less stressed and aggressive.

One day Mole told Badger that he’d found a great quote in a book he was reading.

“No one presses your hot buttons. You just leave your control panel open.”

“That’s what I used to do,” said Mole, stressing the used to!

So what’s this story saying to you as a parent?

Where do you give away your control to others?

Who do you hand over the remote control zapper to in your life?

What is this costing you?

How can you reclaim your power to choose your attitude, response or mindset to life?

What will be the benefits to you, your family or your kids if you do from today?

How would that feel?

How can you remember to take control of your remote control zapper more often?

How can you celebrate every little tiny success when you do? ( as this pats you on the back and keeps you motivated to keep moving forward when you make a mistake or fall back into an old habit!)

Imagine being this new role model for your kids – what will they learn?

How do you feel about that?

What’s stopping you from taking charge of your own mindset, attitude and response today?

So for this week just relax, have fun and enjoy the adventure!!!

 

 

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