When you’re not happy with your environment, you have two choices…leave or change your energy. What prompted this insight was a recent restaurant experience.
Bad experience or opportunity
My wife and I had received less than stellar service from our waitperson. As I was deciding what the tip should be, I recalled seeing an interview with restaurant owners. During the interview they were asked “Do you tip differently when you receive poor service?”
They answered unanimously “We tip generously without regard to the service received.” Their rationale? “Everyone has an off day.”
I was immediately struck by both the wisdom and humanity of their comments. Whether they were fully cognizant of what they were doing or not, they were viewing a bad experience as an opportunity to enrich the life of another person.
Who among us hasn’t had a bad day…a day in which we weren’t the most pleasant company or the most productive worker? On these days we desperately need the kindness and generosity of others to help us out of our funk…and we’re forever grateful to those who help us.
Your energy
Another way of looking at this is that your energy dictates the environment you experience. You can walk into the most dreary, depressing environment imaginable and with a smile and kind word instantaneously change that environment to one filled with energy and excitement. It’s that simple.
Few of us realize the power we possess to influence the energy in whatever environment we find ourselves. Yet when we become aware of that power, and we choose wisely, we find that we always experience joy, encouragement and good will…environments that, in the past, were highly-prized because they were so fleeting.
No more! Now that you know that you have the power to create whatever environment you wish, you will no longer suffer bad experiences. Instead, you’ll see these experience as opportunities to enrich your life as well as the lives of those who share that environment with you.
For our kids
This is a simple lesson to teach kids. Whenever they are having a bad day, ask them how they can make it a better day. If you tell them how to make it a better day, they won’t believe you. They’re not in a frame of mind to be told that the problem is of their own making.
Instead, ask them what they can do to get back to having fun again. Kids, even kids as old as I am, love to have fun. Once they make the transition from funk to fun, remind them that it’s in their power to do that any time, any place…that it is they who control the energy in their environments.
Caveat! Don’t belabor the point. Simply make the point and move on. The more you press the point, the more they’ll resist. But if you plant the seed and allow it time to germinate, the odds of them embracing the message goes up exponentially.
These simple steps will help you and your kids change your energy…and change your environment. Enjoy!
Check out my weekly tip and exercise at TeachingConfidence.com.
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