I'm posting this a touch early, but it's a full 31 day challenge for July. I'm posting it this early because I feel that in order to get the full effect, a touch of planning might be required. I had somehow stumbled across a quote from
Pierre Reverdy. I haven't read much of his stuff, but the quote below did get my brain working a little.
There is no love; there are only proofs of love. Whatever love I might feel in my heart, others will see only my action.
When I initially read that, I kind of scoffed, because I'm not one of those who believe that the things we think don't exist, or that they are unimportant. And it seems kind of like what that quote says. However, in my journal, I also heard some people show some surprise when I mentioned a few good things about my SO. The comment made was "Way too often all you hear is SO bashing [...] I think more people should sit and appreciate all their SO's do and do things for their SO's that they would appreciate." Even MMM himself has chimed in on this with his
Is Mr. Money Mustache Ruining Your Marriage? post. When you combine all of this with my love of the gauntlet section, and some of the things I've been thinking and reading about in regards to my own life, this seemed like the most logical thing to do. I'm going to do it, and I can't see it causing anything bad for anyone else, so here is the gauntlet. The things I'm doing, and the guidelines for the gauntlet are as follows:
Assumptions- There are people in your life that you care about.
- Those people are worth the effort you put into this gauntlet.
- While your thoughts and feelings are your own, this is related to actual actions that you are taking.
- One (or more if you'd like) person will be the focus of this gauntlet.
- You will pay attention to the person as you perform the action.
- You will remember the results, and post here if you want to help motivate others.
- You will ask for help if you can't come up with anything.
Guidelines- Choose your person (or people). No need for real names here on the internet.
- Externalize those thoughts I mentioned above. Why did you choose this person for this gauntlet?
- Explain what you currently do for this person.
- Explain how often you see this person (just in case it's not someone you see daily).
- Think about the kind of things that this person values. Don't assume that what you would like is what they would like.
- No need to share it here, but if lists are your thing, make one with ideas of the things you are going to do for this person.
- These actions you take will be done at least every time you see this person.
- Once the gauntlet is complete, I'd like to hear about the results, and whether a more general post (not tied to a specific month - kind of like the "What did you do today to ..." posts).
Tomorrow, I'll post some additional thoughts about this challenge, along with things that might get your brain kicking as well. The main goal of this is to challenge each other and show that how we appreciate those people in our lives. Nobody is an island, right? I think that the actions that people take will make huge positive leaps forward in all of our lives.