Hollye:

A Suggestion For You

Instead of getting sucked into the vaccuum, how about being the hero and becoming the way out!  I had a job that was a nightmare for this very reason and I decided that if I was going to survive it, I had to do whatever it took to keep myself up.  I started my day, every day, with the song "I Feel Good" by James Brown.  (I think the official title is I Got You on that song).  Anyway, I would play it really loud and sing and dance away in the privacy of my own home until I was so into it that when the mind-chatter of the office went crazy, that song took over in my head.  I would smile and walk away from the garbage that was going on and be singing on the inside just like I was in the privacy of my own home.

Another great trick when you find yourself saying negative things...whether to yourself or to a others...say those very same words out loud in your favorite cartoon characters voice!  I'm serious.  Try it right now!  Say, "my that guy really is a jerk and had better not bug me again!" but say is using Bullwinkles voice.  Out loud!  5-6 times!  It's almost impossible to do it with a straight face no matter how hard you try.  By the time you do it a couple of times, the energy has disappeared and you can happily go along with your day.  I actually tried this skill out loud and work and the ladies in my office just roared in laughter.  They totally understood and it shifted the attitude completely.  Now, when they get mouthy, I tell them, "watch out or you'll have to do the Bullwinkle thing."

One thing about being in upset...whatever you are voicing or "telling" about the other person...is really telling on yourself at that moment.  Such as, if you are saying, "that person is a jerk" behind their back...you are the one being a jerk at that moment about them.  We're back to the two wrongs don't make a right theory.  If you shift the energy by making it a cartoon...you can all laugh and blow it off.

Try it!  I double-dog dare ya!