Just punch 'em in the face.

"If someone breaks your heart, just punch them in the face.

Oh sure, it seems obvious now, but you’d be amazed at how many people don’t think of it when it’s relevant.

Seriously, punch them in the face and go get some ice cream."

--Chuck Klosterman

HAHAH!  I know, I know.  I would never.  

I don't even like ice cream.

It's a little tiny bit funny, though...  :)

Forgiveness and moving on is the better way to go in the long run, however.  I know that.  

Don't worry, I'm only partially immature.

Want to know the mature thing I know today?

Okay, I'll tell you.

Attitude makes all the difference.  It really does.  Choosing to make the best of any moment is the turning point in every circumstance.  Choosing to laugh at myself instead of becoming embarrassed or defensive can take the venom out of any potentially poisonous thoughts or actions.  This is not to say I am perfect at doing this all the time.  I'm still figuring it all out.  BUT - I really do think it is entirely possible to take any circumstance and make it into something productive and positive instead of the alternative.  

For example - story time.  :)  Your favorite.

Exhibit A: Crap Cookies

So there I was, making cookies with a boy I used to date.  I had used this recipe a million times and it always made these really great cookies.  I was out to impress, okay?  I'm pretty sure it was the first time we had cooked anything together.  Anyway.  The last thing I was worried about was the cookies not turning out.  

But in my distraction, I didn't notice that we put margarine in the cookies instead of butter.  

In case you didn't know: margarine in cookies = no bueno.  The first batch came out flat and burned around the edges, with no consistency whatsoever.

I wanted to die.  I remember staring at the cookie sheet thinking..."What the...WHY??"  We literally had to scrape the cookies off the cookie sheet, and even though he made multiple comments about how they still tasted good...

UH - NO.  Not okay.  Those cookies look like crap, and I won't give them to anyone, let alone the people you home teach, thanks very much.  

That's the angry perfectionist in DeeAura talking, right there.

It was an awful time for me.  HAHAH.  I wouldn't even go back in his kitchen.  Hello, baby DeeAura.  Get a grip, girl!   No matter what he said, that was it.  In my mind? 

THERE WAS NO SOLUTION!  

Oh boy.  :)  Poor guys - sometimes we girls are just a lot to handle.  :)

The end.

In this case, I did not apply the "make everything positive" rule.  Ahem.

Unless you count the fact that I laugh about it now...  :)

Let's count that.

And on our left: International Relations

Once upon a time, I decided I should make this Brazilian dinner for the same boy.  You know, because I'm awesome like that.  Uh - the only thing I forgot to factor in, really, is my inability to speak Portugese?  Oopsie.  :)

Try communicating the need for tapioca flour at my local international market to a man who speaks about as much English as I speak Portugese.  :)  It's very funny.  ...NOW.  :)

We finally communicated enough to figure out he didn't have what I was looking for.  But he DID have a mix of what I was looking for!  No more of this need for a recipe!  Add water and stir?  Yes, please.  I can do that.  :)  I felt proud.

Then I got home and discovered the instructions on the bag were only in Portugese.

Uh-huh. Downer. Let me reiterate:  I don't speak Portugese, let alone READ it!

CRAP.  

After some digging through my many Brazilian resources...I found an online translator.  You know, the ones where you give then the text and they translate about every other line?  

If there's enough English mixed in with Portuguese, I can totally read it, FYI.  I think that's going on my next resume update.  :)

The end.

See?  

Do you see how the positive application changed that whole situation?  

Brilliant, you say?  

I KNOW!

...Nothing new, you say?  *sigh* I know.  :)

Ahem.  Okay, so it's easier to apply that to the absence of butter or my semi-inability to speak or read anything other than the English language. 

It's harder to apply that to real-life situations involving people's hearts, or the future...or any of the unknown.  Sometimes things just don't work out the way I think they will.  No matter how great my attitude is, or how hard I try.  

But - that's okay.  It really is! 

It really is entirely possible to make every situation positive on at least some level.  In fact, I'm starting to believe it is absolutely vital to progress and happiness to learn how to do so!

In much of life, we might not be able to change the actual circumstance.  I can't control someone else's choices - just as they cannot control mine.  That is as it should be.  But the one thing I CAN control is my attitude in each circumstance.  

And it's not just my attitude: I can control how much I let Heavenly Father help me get a better perspective on my life.  I can control how much I look back versus how much I move forward with faith that there must be a better plan, especially after I have done all I can do.  

There are many vessels that are destroyed after they have been molded and shaped. Why? Because they are not contented with the shape the potter has given them, but straightway put themselves into a shape to please themselves; therefore they are beyond understanding what God designs, and they destroy themselves by the power of their own agency, for this is given to every man and woman, to do just as they please. …

When a person is miserable, wretched, and unhappy in himself, put him in what circumstances you please, and he is wretched still. If a person is poor, and composes his mind, and calmly submits to the providences of God, he will feel cheerful and happy in all circumstances, if he continues to keep the commandments of God.

-Heber C. Kimball

"Your future is not determined by the conditions around you. It is determined by your faith, your choices, and your efforts." 

- Elder Paul V. Johnson.

Soooo I won't be punching anyone in the face.  :)  No need.  But I will always do exactly what the recipe says (whenever I have one) and update my resume to include partial language skills.  :)

It seems the only sensible thing to do in this case.  

Also, I hope it doesn't chalk me up some serious bad person points if that first quote is going to keep me laughing to myself on and off all day long.  :)  Even if I don't DO it...I still think it's funny.