A Lent Thing

According to Blogger, you can now view WhyNotSmile in 5 different ways.  I don't know how.  But that's 5 times as much WhyNotSmile, which can only be a good thing.

Anyway, to get back to the point.  Many moons ago, I had a year out, in which I did this. We had a saying (it may have been the motto, or we may have made it up; also, I may not remember it entirely accurately) which said "Encourage good wherever you find it; if you can't find it, look harder".

Now this is a Good Plan for many reasons.  For instance, it's Biblical.  We should encourage good things, because those are from God, and therefore... well... good.  And also, it enables us to get along with people who would otherwise annoy the feck out of us.  Everyone has some merits, however deeply buried, and it is always nice to focus on those and not on the things that make us want to stab them in the face.

Over time, one finds that the person one previously suspected of being an arrogant, irritating fecker of a waste of space, actually has some redeeming features, and if one can encourage those, one tends to get on a lot better with the person, which is helpful if one is stuck with them in a confined space, such as an office.

Also, when one focusses on someone's good points, the other person begins to trust one more, which means that when you say "You know, you're really quite irritating when you do that", they tend to listen more and sometimes even try to stop doing it.

It also helps a lot with the Biblical command to "love one another", which is, in many circles, deemed to be Of Note.

So this week, as my Lent thing (which we're finally getting round to starting; don't judge me, at least I'm trying (encourage good, see?)), I hereby proclaim that I shall make an extra special effort to do this all week, and to look for good things all over the place, and not snark over much about bad things; and also, I shall not just stay in the house so I don't have to see people, because that would be cheating.

If you would like to join me, please feel free to leave comments about how great I am.

Thanks.