Freestyle Friday (September 18, 2020)

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TRANSCRIPT
(This episode was partially transcribed by computer and may contain small errors. If quoting this podcast, please refer to the original audio.)

Each week a new theme. Each day 10 minutes to focus our mindset on what matters. I'm Sarah Parker, Wolf, and you're listening to the FOCUSED INTENTION PODCAST. Thanks for joining me. 
 
This week's theme is GOOD INTENTIONS, and today is Freestyle Friday when we focus on living life to the fullest. 
 
Hi everybody and thanks for joining me for another episode of the FOCUSED INTENTION PODCAST. I've hope you've been with us all week where we are thinking about GOOD INTENTIONS and we have got a very positive mindset going. If you haven't, you can always go back and listen, of course. Here we are at Freestyle Friday, so let's get started. 
 
So it's Fri-yay. Yes, I say that in a ridiculous mom way to my children, but don't make fun. Yeah, we're having a positive outlook this week. Remember? yeah. Anyway, I think after all of this positivity we've been generating this week, we're ready to take it one step further. Yep, we've got this.  We have been talking about intent and assuming that those around us have GOOD INTENTIONS. So now let's widen that. And focus on seeing the good first no matter what we're talking about. 
 
So if you're a teacher or you are a frequenter of parent teacher conferences, you will know exactly what I'm going to say here. So teachers try like heck to work with this “seeing the good first” idea, especially during parent teacher conferences. In fact, it's like required. The administration tells you that you have to do this. So I spent 14 years as a high school teacher, and always, especially at parent teacher conferences. Before you tell parents anything bad about a student, you need to tell them at least one good thing. And really, truly, it wasn't just a defense mechanism, although of course it softened a few blows, no doubt. But as a teacher I really wanted parents to know that although there were things that needed adjusting in my classroom, their child was, at their very essence, a good kid. 
 
So we roll into today in parent teacher conference mode. When we feel like we want to complain or argue, let's look at the good first. We can even say it out loud if we're able. The complaint or the argument may come too. Maybe it didn't go away, but that moment of looking for the good often helps our brains back down so that we can respond mindfully. Instead of reacting off the cuff to a situation, it so often buffers that negative thought or comment, and every once in a while it erases it completely. 
 
So today we focus on this intention: I see the good first. 
 
I see the good first.  You know, Angela has her pencil every day, which is awesome. But we do need to work on having her wipe her nose and a tissue. You get it, right? The good always comes first. 
 
Alright, let's do something good for ourselves right here and take a nice deep breath. Hold it for a second. Breath in that nice oxygen and then exhale. Let's do it one more time. Inhale and say to ourselves... 
 
I see the good first. (repeated over relaxing music.) 
 
Thank you for sharing your time with me today and if you are enjoying the FOCUSED INTENTION PODCAST and don’t want to miss any of our daily episodes, make sure you subscribe or follow us. If you have a minute, we appreciate a rating or a review but the best thing you can do if you love the FOCUSED INTENTION PODCAST is share it with a friend.  And if you would like to have a nice printable of our intentions sent to your inbox every Monday morning, you can visit my website: sarahparkerwolf.com where you can sign up for my weekly email. And on that same website you will also find the transcripts and the audio to all our past episodes. Plus, you can find us on Facebook if you look up “FOCUSED INTENTION PODCAST.” 
 
Alright everyone, it’s time to go out, see the good, love like crazy, and have a great day. ​