Yes it stinks.
Last year we had rain all summer and the federal shut down (which not only closed every national park and monument) but all federal employees, this includes govt contractors at all military bases etc. Of which in this state is pretty much 65% of everyone in or near a city.
But in other news, we have personally had the worst year of our lives, so it has got to get better!
And...one of my best friends in the whole world is coming to stay for the first time in July. (Because she is visiting son and new daughter in law in Savannah and they are all driving up). Yes we have been here 11 years now... I am just so over the moon to have her visit!
I was reading this whatever-you-call-it, and the author was saying that we need to STOP putting bad intentions in other peoples heads, in other words, when we get disappointed, STOP thinking the worst, thinking that they are doing the least possible, the worse intention, instead think the best and see what happens! Let me find it, I did a terrible job explaining it...Excerpt:
Assume Good Intentions in Others
When we go into meetings or discussions, or when we interact by email or phone, we should assume that the people we're interacting with have good intentions. We may disagree with someone, but when we do we should still give them the benefit of the doubt. If their intentions are good, we should cut them some slack.
This is a very important idea, because whenever you disagree with someone's opinion, or with their judgment about a situation, the natural inclination is to suspect a flaw in the other person's character. Either they aren't as smart as we are or (more likely) they're just acting selfishly. After all, you yourself have no problem at all seeing the right course of action to take, so the most expedient way for your own brain to process the fact that someone else doesn't see it like you see it is that their intentions must be bad. From a psychological standpoint this is the "easy" way to explain a disagreement to your own selfish ego. It doesn't require too much hard thinking to remain confident in your own grasp of reality.
It's easy to rationalize your own point of view by attributing bad intentions to people with dissenting viewpoints. Cognitively, it's actually hard work to assume that people who disagree with you have good intentions. It doesn't come naturally, and we have to force ourselves to assume that a person we disagree with must have some legitimate reason for their point of view.
To assume good intentions in others, you have to make a sincere effort to see things from their perspective. This means being an active listener, not being defensive, remaining open to new or different ideas, and not taking personal offense at contrary points of view.
Try it a few times. You'll get better with practice. Next time you find yourself in a disagreement of any kind - with your co-worker, your boss, a customer, vendor, or anyone else - step back and force yourself to remember that their intentions are almost certainly just as good as yours are.
