Beware of Garbage Trucks!
Today I heard an analogy comparing negative, unhappy people to a truck full of garbage. They fill up their truck with alot of garbage by focusing on the negative in life and having a bad attitude about what life has brought their way. They carry around their garbage in this truck, getting frustrated and angry at everything and everyone in their lives. They often look for someone to dump their garbage on!
We have all experienced this I am sure. You are in a store and the customer is rude to the clerk...or vice versa. Drivers scream and shake their fists at others who get in their way. Nurses take out their frustration on patients, and doctors take out their frustration on the nurses! Lest we feel exempt from these scenarios, how many of us have had a bad day and taken it out on those we love? It is human nature it seems to want to draw others into our negativity.
How do we avoid being the victim of someone else's garbage? How do we avoid being the garbage truck looking for someone to dump our load on?
It takes effort to not succumb to our problems, our "bad days". It takes more effort not to respond to others in a negative way when they dump their garbage onto us! It is hard not to take it personal, but that is one of the keys I think....don't take it. I don't mean that you fight back, although at times it is certainly appropriate to set firm boundaries and express our feelings.....I mean that you don't take on someone's stuff and get upset by their negativity. We can choose where to put our energy.
There is always something we can be upset about....always someone who is going to "rub us the wrong way". We just can't let anyone steal our joy. Make a conscious effort to let go, move on, and keep smiling. We can't usually control what happens to us, only how we respond or react to it.
And when we find ourselves collecting garbage....take it to the Lord in prayer and leave our negative feelings at his feet. If we do find ourselves dumping our load of garbage on someone...make amends!
Today I heard an analogy comparing negative, unhappy people to a truck full of garbage. They fill up their truck with alot of garbage by focusing on the negative in life and having a bad attitude about what life has brought their way. They carry around their garbage in this truck, getting frustrated and angry at everything and everyone in their lives. They often look for someone to dump their garbage on!
We have all experienced this I am sure. You are in a store and the customer is rude to the clerk...or vice versa. Drivers scream and shake their fists at others who get in their way. Nurses take out their frustration on patients, and doctors take out their frustration on the nurses! Lest we feel exempt from these scenarios, how many of us have had a bad day and taken it out on those we love? It is human nature it seems to want to draw others into our negativity.
How do we avoid being the victim of someone else's garbage? How do we avoid being the garbage truck looking for someone to dump our load on?
It takes effort to not succumb to our problems, our "bad days". It takes more effort not to respond to others in a negative way when they dump their garbage onto us! It is hard not to take it personal, but that is one of the keys I think....don't take it. I don't mean that you fight back, although at times it is certainly appropriate to set firm boundaries and express our feelings.....I mean that you don't take on someone's stuff and get upset by their negativity. We can choose where to put our energy.
There is always something we can be upset about....always someone who is going to "rub us the wrong way". We just can't let anyone steal our joy. Make a conscious effort to let go, move on, and keep smiling. We can't usually control what happens to us, only how we respond or react to it.
And when we find ourselves collecting garbage....take it to the Lord in prayer and leave our negative feelings at his feet. If we do find ourselves dumping our load of garbage on someone...make amends!
2 comments:
Thanks for posting this great story! My name is Dawn, and I work with David J. Pollay, the author of The Law of the Garbage Truck™ - Beware of Garbage Trucks™! I just wanted to stop by and let you know that you can read the original story on David’s blog davidjpollay.typepad.com. I know he’d love to have you stop by!
Also check out the video of people in New York City taking the No Garbage Trucks!™ Pledge: bewareofgarbagetrucks.com. It’s pretty cool.
Thanks again!
Dawn
dawn@themomentumproject.com
I will have to read the story on David's blog....to see what original story you are talking about.
Glad you enjoyed the post!
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