My wife and I recently went to a dinner thrown by the aquarium. It was an amazing experience!
They had delicious food and tables set up in the main viewing room so that we could sit there and look at the aquarium fish while we ate.
The people in attendance were very nice and well dressed. I enjoyed the conversation with the people at our table as we shared about our lives and the things that we're involved in.
The dinner was followed by a concert by six musicians from a symphony orchestra. They played some lively pieces that sounded great.
As we drove home after the event, I shared with my wife that everybody was so positive and how that's not what I grew up with. I remember growing up hearing "what a shame" over and over and over followed by how the people around me and my parents and family members that I got to see all missed opportunities and failed outcomes, how people took the wrong turn and ruined their lives. They only had one shot and they missed it.
As an adult, I talked that way also because that's what I had heard growing up. And I remember many conversations where everything was going fine and then I would drop a bomb in the middle of the conversation about something negative, a negative outcome, a negative thing, a missed opportunity. Yeah, but we didn't do this. Yeah, but we didn't get this. And it just cast such a negative light over everything positive that had been said.
Over the past few years, I've made an effort to stay quiet many times instead of saying those things that pop into my head. Staying quiet has led me to gaining better insights and having much more positive conversations, which I like a lot better.
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