The next time you are getting frustrated with your child over their ignoring you when it’s homework time, or when your spouse is ignoring your requests to pick up their socks, stop. There are always opportunities to learn and grow from our experiences and in those moments when we are encountering a problem is when the possibilities for change can happen.
Before you launch into a lecture or express how everyone is taking advantage of you, stop.
Really connect with what you are feeling, then take a few minutes to acknowledge what it is you are feeling and what you desire. When you are calm and in control of your feelings you are not operating from a reactive place. Instead you are in control of your thoughts and feelings and can reasonably discuss this. If you do not take a few minutes to get clear, you will express yourself from a reactive angry place, and you certainly will not be understood. I often do art when I feel this way, so I can get clear on what I’m feeling and what I desire.
In this moment of frustration, anger, and hurt, is when you have an opportunity to change how you respond- and consequently change the relationship for the better.
Tags: arguing, fighting, parenting support, problems, shutting down
