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Happy New Year!
I hope it is happy and filled with positive upbeat loving people that make you smile and feel good inside. Having said that, I would like to discuss the choice of words so often in the paper and news feeds today. Take the word 'feel' for instance, it is important to remember that when we use the word "feel" we are referring to an emotion. I feel safe, I feel happy, I feel sad, etc. This word is so misused today that I think English is either being seriously corrupted or all English teachers are out of a job. The word feel is more often than not to describe an opinion or conclusion about a topic. An example would be....I feel the current political atmosphere is corrupt and unfair. How does one feel that? Perhaps they feel pain, sorrow, or anger due to the atmosphere, but it is impossible to feel corruption and unfairness. Here is where the word 'think' comes into play! Or have we forgotten how to think? We cannot think pain, sorrow, or anger but we can 'think' the current political atmosphere is corrupt, unfair, bizarre, entertaining, etc. When we 'think' about something we are then able to state an opinion about what ever it may be. We cannot 'feel' it, but we can think it. We can feel the emotion it may generate, but we cannot think the emotion. Maybe I should have been an English teacher!!!
So, now that I have expressed my pet peeve of the year, I will return to the purpose of this post. Happy New Year! Years ago I was gifted with a program called" The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". I was captivated, and began to study Stephen R. Covey's program. That was over 20 years ago. I am going to share some of his work here with you. I hope you will find it as I did to be insightful and inspirational.
January 1
" If we want to change a situation, we first have to change ourselves. And to change ourselves effectively, we first have to change our perceptions." I approach people and situations that include horses from this perspective. It is usually our perceptions that needs to be examined. If you can,
Ponder that principal and hopefully you are on a path of discovery and will stay tuned for the next entry. If you have reached this point, thank you for taking precious time. Cheers!
I hope it is happy and filled with positive upbeat loving people that make you smile and feel good inside. Having said that, I would like to discuss the choice of words so often in the paper and news feeds today. Take the word 'feel' for instance, it is important to remember that when we use the word "feel" we are referring to an emotion. I feel safe, I feel happy, I feel sad, etc. This word is so misused today that I think English is either being seriously corrupted or all English teachers are out of a job. The word feel is more often than not to describe an opinion or conclusion about a topic. An example would be....I feel the current political atmosphere is corrupt and unfair. How does one feel that? Perhaps they feel pain, sorrow, or anger due to the atmosphere, but it is impossible to feel corruption and unfairness. Here is where the word 'think' comes into play! Or have we forgotten how to think? We cannot think pain, sorrow, or anger but we can 'think' the current political atmosphere is corrupt, unfair, bizarre, entertaining, etc. When we 'think' about something we are then able to state an opinion about what ever it may be. We cannot 'feel' it, but we can think it. We can feel the emotion it may generate, but we cannot think the emotion. Maybe I should have been an English teacher!!!
So, now that I have expressed my pet peeve of the year, I will return to the purpose of this post. Happy New Year! Years ago I was gifted with a program called" The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". I was captivated, and began to study Stephen R. Covey's program. That was over 20 years ago. I am going to share some of his work here with you. I hope you will find it as I did to be insightful and inspirational.
January 1
" If we want to change a situation, we first have to change ourselves. And to change ourselves effectively, we first have to change our perceptions." I approach people and situations that include horses from this perspective. It is usually our perceptions that needs to be examined. If you can,
Ponder that principal and hopefully you are on a path of discovery and will stay tuned for the next entry. If you have reached this point, thank you for taking precious time. Cheers!
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