It's Contagious!

I love kids. I really do. But sometimes when you are subbing, 22 all at once is a little much. ESPECIALLY when they are preK kids. Sweet, but very germy. They can't help themselves, but darn, it took me one trip to their classroom and 3 days until I got their germs. All they want to do is hug and be hugged. Germ City! And every one of them itty bitty germs were willing to pass themselves off to new victims. God Bless the Teachers of the World. They really need good health care!

There are lots of contagious things out there. We know about them. Measles, chicken pox, colds, flu. But as I sat in my lounger thinking about how miserable I was feeling, it occurred to me that it doesn't have to be a physical germ that creeps into you for you to be "contagious."

Negative thoughts are contagious. One bad thought often begets another bad one. Negative people seem to attract other less than positive people to hang out with. If you believe you cannot do something, then chances are much better than 50-50 that you won't be able to do it.

I say let's turn that around. We have enough negatives that we cannot always control. We can't immediately do anything about our negative political or market climate. We can't change the minds of people by willing it to happen. But we CAN and SHOULD change our reactions to that which is negative around us.

Did you happen to see the "twins talking" that hit the news last week? Their enthusiasm is contagious. The baby that won't stop laughing and giggling? If you don't laugh at that, you need to seriously think about the way your life is heading. Even the laughing gulls that perch on my light post every morning and who laugh at me with their awful cackle every time I bend over to get the paper, they more often than not make me laugh right back.

I was at a book signing the other day at our First Friday Art Walk in downtown Corpus Christi. I not only got to sell some books, but I got to meet and greet a lot of interesting people and listen to some great music. What I realized was that all those people were there because they chose to be, and that made them happy. And their happiness made it easy to talk to them. It was contagious. And the more confidence I got, the more books I actually sold. It was with confidence that I looked for and found something personal to write in each of their newly purchased books, and each one blew my "ego" balloon up just a little more.

I noticed something else. I had sold a book to a friend of a friend in December. She was there with several of her friends that night. I caught a side conversation about a "really good book." Thinking that I might have an easy sell, I turned around to entice them over my way, only to realize it was the lady who had bought mine in December, and she was telling them about MY very book. I was stunned. She told me that she had been passing it around to all her friends, and that they all had positive things to say about it. One of her friends stopped back by toward the end of the evening and began to talk to me about the book. Her compliments grew, and because I realized they were not empty compliments, I began to more easily accept them into my thinking and even into my soul.

I was very timid about posting pics of me online, never having learned to like the way I looked on film. But the compliments I received about the progress I had made in weight loss were genuine. I had to accept them at face value for what they were...recognition of a job well done. Why is that so hard for so many of us?

So, my fellow weight lossers (notice I didn't say losers!), take those compliments. Turn them into positive experiences for you, and run with joy for how good it makes you feel. I am working very hard to make that my new mantra.

And even if you didn't mean that compliment, I take joy in the fact that I made you look!