Alex Jordan
Professor Juniper Ellis
EN 101.16
23 October 2013
A
Day of Smiles
The other day I practiced self-observation. Throughout
the day I had to observe everything I said through any form of communication
and make sure it was kind, useful, and true. This was not a necessarily
difficult thing because I try to say what is kind, true, and useful all the
time but I do find myself slipping into the gray area.
Every morning I am woken up by my roommate slamming his
dresser drawers, playing loud music, or causing some other kind of disturbance,
and every morning I say something to him about it; somewhere along the lines of
“Please shut up” (give or take a few words). This morning was different I kindly
asked him to not make as much noise because I am still trying to sleep. He
responded much differently when I asked him politely to stop. It was rather
unexpected sine he usually does not change.
My girlfriend and I have a lot of playful arguments where
we both say things that could be mean but neither of us take offense to them. That’s
what every healthy relationship is like, right? But today was a lot different.
We didn’t argue or anything. We couldn’t argue since us both practiced self-observation
on the same day. We both tried to figure a way to argue but we just couldn’t.
It was nice. All we could do was laugh because we both knew each of us couldn’t
say anything that wasn’t kind, true, or useful.
Through self-observation I found that people have a much
different attitude towards you when you are always kind, truthful, and useful
towards them. It also made my day go by a lot faster and I also felt my mood
change significantly, from a stressed out and angry college student to a much
joyful and happy little kid without a worry in the world. People’s moods around
me also changed when they saw how my mood was. I think this will be a practice
that I am going to put to use every single day; not only for myself but for
everyone around me.
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