My Experiments in the Practice of Everyday Life

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December 24, 2007
11 Comment

An early New Year’s Resolution, in honor of Christmas.

In honor of Christmas, and inspired by my love of making New Year’s resolutions (well, I love making resolutions anytime, actually), I resolve not to say anything critical of the Big Man to anyone — other than to the Big Man himself, and I’m going to try to resist doing that, too.

But no behind-the-back complaining, barbs masked as jokes, or exasperated asides. It’s not helpful, it’s not nice.

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  • Thayne

    AKA, “Pray with your ears.”
    _/\_, Thayne

  • http://www.jugglingfrogs.com Juggling Frogs

    That’s a beautiful resolution.
    May you and your husband always find joy in each other’s company.

  • http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com Louise

    Can I jump on this bandwagon? This is something I need to do better, too. I resolve to not say negative things about my husband. Thanks for inspiring me to resolve this!

  • http://riakennedy.blogspot.com/ Ria Kennedy

    We like to get issues out in the open and deal with them straight away and not let them build up. This may be temporarily unpleasant, but being able to say whatever is on our minds makes us happy.
    Merry Christmas and I hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday!

  • http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com Louise

    Can I jump on this bandwagon? This is something I need to do better, too. I resolve to not say negative things about my husband. Thanks for inspiring me to resolve this!

  • Rick Dickerscheid

    You’re an inspiration Gretchen. I just vowed to do the same and challenged each of my immediate family to follow suit.
    I will have progress in my life this year and it won’t come from pushing others aside, especially those that are near and dear to my heart.

  • Helen

    And how do you propose to do this? It is a complicated endeavor… you have to stay present, in the moment to notice the irritation, you have to engage with the irritation and understand it, you have to be willing to let go…. What are the to do items that will help you achieve your resolution?

  • Debra

    Bravo! Not only will you be making yourself and your husband happier, you will also be making all of your friends and acquaintances happier too. I always feel badly when a friend is complaining about his/her partner (and here I don’t mean a real confiding of problems or issues, but the backstabbing recitation of annoyances we all fall prey to). Have you read A Complaint Free World? Good luck!

  • http://knitandrunjournal.wordpress.com knitandrunjournal

    What an excellent resolution. I find myself making the same kind of “jokes” about my husband. I have resolved to stop too. Thanks!

  • Erica

    I am getting married tomorrow. As a Catholic I have to go to confession before the wedding; which is a mass with different parts added on then the usual mass but looks about the same. In any case, I think the Father has his own happiness project. My “penance” was to say thank you for five things before I got married and to do something nice for each person in my family on the day of the wedding. In particular he suggested that I forgive them for messing up some part of the wedding plan, because family is more important then the plans. It reminded me of some of the things you post here.
    Erica

  • Thayne

    Gretchen: My blushes! A quick scan through the blog id’ed the ‘Big Man’ in question; I had assumed different viz the season. Still works for me–in fact, if I may appeal for a do-over and resubmit my little thought for this post: “You’ll never solve anything by talking about other people.”
    _/\_, T

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