Learned behaviors

[rebeccmeister]

Something that I have learned about myself is that whenever I am in a situation where I start to feel really angry and stingy, it usually means that it's time for me to put on my big-girl pants and turn around and do generous things. Often, a first step is thinking past the point of who to blame for what, because in a lot of cases the only result of figuring out how to properly attribute blame, is denial and hard feelings. Not good for anyone. And I'd rather spend mental energy elsewhere, and I can make a conscious decision to do so.

All of which is to say, this morning, I went back to the old house and went around the old bedroom with a can of paint to touch up every.single.scuff mark and filled-in hole and chipped paint spot. I can vividly remember moving into a house where there was animal grease along the lower edges of the doors, with ancient, yellowed caulk around the sink (hey, I even photographed the replacement process, you might recall), dirty windows and windowsills, broken glass and beer bottles littering the grass around the front and back porches, and lots of holes and nails in the walls.

Today, however, was a good time to practice the "campfire" rule. I imagine the next occupants will be oblivious to many, if not all, of these efforts, but that's not the point. The point is that we can all make the world a better place by acting with care. And to me, it remains most important to bring myself back to a place where I act with care when my initial instinct is to do the opposite.

Goodbye, Villa Maria house. I still won't miss you, but I hope your next occupants will find their lives somewhat better for their change in location anyway. This region, and the world at large, needs as much of that as it can possibly get, to judge by recent events.

Comments

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

At the very least, one hopes they appreciate the organic compost.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Seriously! But you'd be surprised by what happens when one person moves out of a house and someone else moves in. I don't know that I'll wind up going past the old house much, which might be for the best, if there are major negative changes to the garden.

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

I try hard to stay away from my old house, which is difficult as the denver century goes right by the front and turns up that street, so I get 270 degrees of irritation every year.

[rebeccmeister.livejournal.com]

Bahahaha, I actually won't go by my old house at all unless I go out of my way. It's on a very busy road with a lot of vehicular traffic and no accommodations for bicyclists. I don't miss it.

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

Among the things I miss about my old place was that it was on the major east/west cycling route for north Denver so even in the dead of winter there was a nonstop stream of cyclists going by.
Pity about the problems it had, though.