Thoughts and Perspectives – Antoine de Saint Exupéry – Attitude

“The meaning of things lies not in the things themselves, but in our attitude towards them.”  - Antoine de Saint Exupéry

Have you noticed how a shift in attitude can make a difference in our lives?  During dinner with a friend earlier this week, how our attitude can impact our relationships came up.  Our specific conversation was about how changing our attitude at work can transform our work environment from a miserable place to go to each day, to a place where you feel more empowered and positive about.  I believe that this shift in attitude can also help our struggling families grow more understanding.

What do I mean?  Basically, we all come from different backgrounds and bring with us different life experiences.  Whether your family is a single parent household or a two parent household, is Southern Baptist or Jewish, is fifth generation American or just recently immigrated to the US, etc., our history and our current environment influence our families.   For example, my youngest daughter was born into a home where I, her mother, came from a Latin American family with specific family values.   In addition, I was also shaped by spending  part of my youth in a third world country where electricity and running water were not always available, and later in my young adult years, working my way through college.   So when my youngest daughter seemed to take for granted what we had, I was heartbroken and angry and spent a lot of time trying to get her to see things my way.   When I finally stopped and realized that her life experience was different than mine, I was able to begin to see things from her vantage point.   In my opinion, this shift in attitude on my part, opened up our ability to have a more sincere conversation and better understand and respect each other.

In your relationship(s) with your struggling teen or the rest of your family, is there any place where you may benefit from reexamining how you are looking at things?   If so, you may find that this self examination may shift your relationship(s) and possibly bring you greater peace of mind.

As always, I hope this is of service.