And Now for the Flip Side

The problem with a positive mantra is that you are setting yourself up for failure.  Not to mention disappointment.  I mean, if you look in the mirror in the morning and say out loud to yourself, “This is going to be the best day ever,” and you get in your car and have traffic issues right off the bat, it’s just hard to keep that ‘best day ever’ attitude.  The day is bound to go downhill from there.  Then what?  You change the mantra to, “This might be a bad day but I’ll deal with it alright.”  And this time you say it quietly to yourself without making eye contact.  No mirror needed for this one.

OK, I confess.  I am saying this tongue in cheek.  I hope you noticed.  The bulge in my cheek isn’t chewing tobacco.  It’s just my tongue.

I had to write about mantras from the flip side of my blog from yesterday.  I had some rude comments from some very close friends.  Granted, these are depressed, nasty people that totally believe every day is going to be terrible.  They are convinced if you set low expectations you are more likely to be accurate.

Of course, my take on this is that if you set low expectations, you also may occasionally be pleasantly surprised. That’s the optimist in me coming out.  Can’t help it.

So next time I want to share an encouraging mantra via Facebook or other social media, I may just invent a few low key, glass half empty mantras.

“Today is the first day of the rest of your life.  But you will still have tomorrow to correct what you mess up today.”  Appropriately bright and encouraging, yet offering a safety net for failure.

Or, “You will become what ever you can imagine.  Just remember what you imagine will change pretty frequently.”  This one allows for flexibility for those with little or no notion of what they want to be when they grow up.  Or even what they want to be tomorrow.

And maybe this one, “Others can only define who you are if you allow it.  But you may want to let them define you so you can decide for yourself if that’s who you really are.”  This could save someone quite a bit of time and effort. 

So, I’ll leave it to you to determine if you want to use a daily positive mantra or if you want to go with the more forgiving, lowered expectation mantras I will devise for you. I’m here to offer you the flip side.