“We do not think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves into new ways of thinking.” -Richard Rohr
Maddi has a double ear infection. I think she’s on number twelve, most of which occurred when she was a baby. At one point the doctor wanted her to get tubes in her ears, but the day we went for a consultation she was perfectly healthy and the specialist couldn’t approve a remedy when there wasn’t a visible problem. Another quizzical point, Maddi never complains of her ears hurting. Even last week at her annual exam, the doctor commented on my child who always smiles.
Madelynn wrinkled her nose at the pink medicine I had to give her and told me, “Mom, I don’t like that medicine. It tastes like hand sanitizer.”
“Well, this is the last dose. You get brownie points for this one,” I said, because it sounded good. Everyone should get extra credit for doing something we don’t like, right?
“What are brownie bites?” Miss Maddi wanted to know. “Is that for ice-cream?”
I then had to explain the sweet definition of brownie points to my daughter, who was disappointed to learn that it had nothing to do with food or a bedtime treat.
It is all about translation sometimes–how we think, live and act. If we are looking for a new outlook, new health, a new life, maybe we need to begin with our definition. Then, we should try living out that definition as an experiment for one day. Consider this like brownie points or brownie bites, whatever you want to call it –a bonus for living in a creative, new way.
