Be Careful What You Say

    How often do we say things without a thought? I know I am guilty of speaking my mind without a filter sometimes. I have a really bad habit of negative self talk... Anyone with me on that?! It is such an ingrained habit that I am ashamed to admit it happens far too often.
   Part of the New Year, New Me is about mental health, not just this physical. It is so much easier to work on the outside and push the mental health to the back burner. I had a BIG wake up call the other day. It's time to focus on emotional health.
   We had only been back from vacation for a couple of days, and we were all still getting used to being back in our "normal" routine. Akira was having a tough day and ended up in big time melt down mode. She went off to her room like a screaming banshee while the dog and her brothers ran for cover. I let her carry on for a bit and when I thought she was starting to gain a bit of control, I went to talk.
     I opened the door to find a heap of 6 year old little girl in a tear stained, puffy-eyed mess. I sat down on the floor with her and asked her what was going on. What she said next was like a punch in the gut. She proceeded to say something about herself that was a direct quote of what I have said about myself when I'm in melt-down mode. Ouch! It broke my heart to see my little girl hiccuping and wiping her runny nose on her sleeve knowing that I had passed on this self-laothing type of thinking. Definitely not the legacy I want to leave.
    Akira and I snuggled there on her floor for a little while and talked about all the good things we see in each other. We were able to talk about the difference between "being a bad girl" and having bad behaviour. In the end, she felt comforted and reassured and I felt determined to turn my own thinking around. I don't want to be a negative impact like that!
   What I learned from that moment? My kids are always listening, even when I think they aren't. I need to speak positive thoughts about myself in front of them. Your words define you, so be careful what you say. It's like the post I've seen floating around facebook recently about the broken plate. You can apologize to the broken plate, but it is still broken. It's my job as  a parent to teach these little people how to make it and how to be okay. I'm looking forward to learning to speak good things and not the bad!