Today is International Human Rights Day
Hence, if you have a teenager(s) in your life with entitlement issues, you may want to withhold this information, LOL!
But seriously, the UN General Assembly proclaimed December 10th as Human Rights Day in 1950, to bring to the attention of the people of the world the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the common standard of achievement for all people and all nations.
This year’s slogan, Human Rights 365, encompasses the idea that every day is Human Rights Day. It celebrates the fundamental proposition in the Universal Declaration that each one of us, everywhere, at all times is entitled to the full range of human rights, that human rights belong equally to each of us and bind us together as a global community with the same ideals and values.
For what it’s worth, here are my thoughts:
Indeed, we all have basic human rights that must be upheld, yet sometimes it’s relative and subject to opinion. Some things must be kept in perspective.
Here’s my 19 year old daughter’s perspective on her particular rights. She recently sent her father and I this photo. I’m being shamelessly transparent here…this is real and it disturbs me!
She believes she has the right to a big screen TV in her new apartment. Agree? Our response, “Sit closer.” Does anyone else experience these things? Please enlighten me, I always welcome feedback.
Now let us take a look at two people whose human rights were fully stripped. Cory Ten Boom and Viktor Frankl were prisoners of Nazi war camps. Having lost everything including material possessions, family, homes and dignity, they held on to one thing that could NOT be taken away…
They both held on to their POSITIVE THINKING.
They both survived to tell their stories of triumph amidst extreme adversity. The key was faith, hope, and refusal to give up or give in. They literally thought “outside the box” and this positive thinking kept them alive.
Above is a photo of their books, I pulled them off my shelf this morning as a reminder.
While we cannot control everything, we CAN control the way we think about things and that is POWERFUL!
Last week I showed you images of the brain’s temporal lobes on gratitude vs negative thoughts. This week I went deeper and asked a client to imagine grateful vs. negative ruminations and watched the deep limbic lobes which are the seat of emotions and memory. The portion lit up in red represents hyperactivity of fast brain waves in the posterior cingulate gyrus. This part of the brain is involved in the focus of attention among other things. Imagine how the images of Cory Ten Boom and Viktor Frankl might have looked. I’m thankful they lived and shared how they did it with us.
Grateful/positive thinking Negative rumination
So I encourage you today and throughout the season to hold on to your freedom, especially in choosing your thoughts and how you share them with others:)
If you need any help with positive thinking or teenagers with issues (because sometimes we just get stuck and it’s a brain rhythm pattern), feel free to give me a call at 928-486-5414 or reply to this email. Oh, also ask about our BOGO deal on holiday GIFT CERTIFICATES so you can now give the gift of BRAIN FITNESS, how cool is that?
