Post #11: Reframing

 My whole life needs a constant reframing toward positivity. 

I am reminded of Martin Luther's first of 95 theses:  When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent” [Matthew 4:17], he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.

I do not take this to mean, as perhaps Luther did, that we are constantly sinning and need to repent in sorrow every minute for our errors and disobedience. I take it to mean we must constantly "recalibrate": reflect and get back on track. 

We are like a car with really bad alignment, and if we don't consciously hold the steering wheel and make choices in the minute, we are going to go off the road. Course correction is needed, and sometimes that includes confession and forgiveness; Luther is probably correct that we need it more than we think we do and more than we practice it. 

As for me, my "car" goes off the road to negativity. Daily practicing positivity is getting my tires aligned, not just fighting the bad alignment. 

It starts with my dogs. I used to say to them in the morning, "Love you, mean it, not really." As dogs, they didn't care. But it was a self message. I was denying that I did have affection for them, and I was lying. I was also using "humor" in a bad way. 

Then I would journal, and it focused on the negative. My teaching tended to be more about what they shouldn't do than what they should or could. That bad alignment into the ditch of negativity ruled.

I'm exaggerating, but it was too much. My students in the fall were the worst I had ever had, and my teaching experience in one course was the worst in 45 years of teaching. 

And then I came to my DEI class. I found the faults, I was resistant (as I was warned I would be), I rolled my eyes a lot, I said I wouldn't buy into this "stuff." Why? Maybe I didn't want to accept I could have been wrong about something. It wasn't the privilege thing; I know I am privileged, and it's stupid to argue otherwise. (There you go--another viewpoint is stupid--negativity.) 

At least I was fair--I was hard and negative on myself. It's sort of like the old joke: "I'm not prejudiced! I hate everybody!"  

More later. This post is getting negative. But the core of anti-negativity is gratitude, which is under-researched and under taught, especially in the communication discipline. 

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