Journey of a Thousand Miles: "Stop the Yelling"

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

"Stop the Yelling"

I'm starting a "Stop the Yelling" campaign at our house. Unfortunately, I'm kind of alone in campaigning for the cause. But then again, I'm the main one it applies to.

I confess, I am a bit of a yeller. So I've effectively taught my children how things work with me. When I say something to them, That's Nice But Who Cares. When I raise my voice a bit, Maybe We Should Think About Doing What She Says. When I really raise my voice and turn into Godzilla, Okay, She Seems Serious And We Better Follow Her Instructions.

So since I've been training them how this works for several years now, I'm expecting that it may take some time for all of us to learn to communicate differently. Somehow, I need to teach them that I'm serious even when I don't raise my voice or transform into some horrid monster.

I'm at somewhat of a loss of how to work on this, so any good ideas would be welcome. And I'll plan on posting in a week or two to let you all know how it went and how I was totally cured of being a yeller. (Or maybe I won't be really cured of it until I get to Heaven and I don't think you can blog from there.) But I'll work at it anyway.

1 comment:

marilyn bontrager said...: Well.. dear Karen, what can I say..? I used to be a yeller too until i took on the job as a Bus Driver... I found that when I engage in in-appropriate behavior and let my "out of control kids" hook me into their saga of emotions tehn they have won!! It took some very huge blunders on my part! Trust me I have yelled plenty... so much that i believe i may have damaged my vocal chords! l.o.l. However I am being very much challenged with my new bus route that takes me out into the bhunies of Monroe Cty. I feel like I'm driving in the hills of Kentucky... It is simply beautiful however some of my "precious cargo"... could be admitted to the local zoo... for their monkey like actions! I try my dardest to stay calm... talk very quiet when they are out of control... speak firmly and simply say "I need you to do ___" my patience has been severely tested this past week... so much so that I radioed in to my ele. school for the principal to meet me to talk to one of my kids... all i can say is hang tough young mommie..love you marilyn; September 1, 2008 at 1:55 PM

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"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Lao-tzu

July 1, 2008
This journey so far has taken me one thousand and four miles from my hometown, but I’m having trouble putting my finger on the single step that began it all. Was it Monday afternoon at the border when they gave me my official document allowing me to pass? Was it Saturday morning when we started the car and drove out of Goshen in our funny little caravan? Was it in February when we came up to Red Lake for a job interview at the hospital? Was it two Christmases ago being up here with Kendall’s family and all of us rating our desire to live up here? (I can’t say my number on a scale of 1 – 100 was high, but it was the highest of all the in-laws, so I guess I’m the chosen one.) Was it three years ago almost to the day that Kendall first said, “What if we’d move up here?” (I tried to ignore that one for several months, thinking surely it would go away.) Or was it June 10, 2000 when I married Kendall and made some solemn promises before God and all these witnesses? Was it a night before Kendall and I were married when we talked about moving to Red Lake? (It was a far off and romantic possibility at that time.) Or was it living in and visiting different cultures at different times in my life? Could the first step have been when my parents brought me as a baby to this same area for a year of voluntary service? (Kendall wasn’t born yet, but I surely saw his parents as they chatted with mine from time to time.) What about when my dad lived on a nearby reserve for two years before he was married? Or when my mom visited this town with her family as a teenager? Or maybe it had something to do with choices my grandparents made? Or other ancestors farther back?

At any rate, moving into this house where I slept for a few weeks as a baby and where my dad stayed as a teenager, has made me very aware of roots. And how they affect our lives and choices and passions.

I suspect there is no single step that began our move a thousand miles away from Indiana. It seems, rather, to be a coming together of so many different factors. (Not the least of which is marrying a man who has taken this land as a very part of his being. And for all the ways I can tease him and get annoyed at some of his woodsman ways, I really do mean that in a reverent and respectful way.)

So here we are, a thousand miles from nowhere. (Oops…I meant a thousand miles from Goshen.) I know that we safely made the journey here, but mostly our journey is just beginning. And mostly I’m excited.

Journey of a Thousand Miles

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

"Stop the Yelling"

1 comment:

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Lao-tzu

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