Q-Tip It!
Back in the 1920�s when Polish-American entrepreneur Leo Gerstenzang invented cotton swabs as a safer way to clean his baby�s ears, he called his product �Q-Tip.� Actually, his first name-choice was �Baby Gay� � but that didn�t sell, so the by-now familiar name emerged. Mr. Gerstenzang chose �Q� for Quality . . . and he must have been on to something, because Q-Tip has become a household word (and we�ve developed a whole �nother set of connotations for �Baby Gay.�)
Which made Q-Tip a good choice for an acronym that�s going �round in motivational workshops these days: Quit Taking It Personally! I have a jar of those little white-tipped tools on my vanity, and every morning they remind me to use this quick-and-easy stress reduction technique: Q-Tip It!
The traffic jam or the flat tire, or the keys that get locked in the car are not part of a plan to ruin your day. Q-Tip It � Quit Taking It Personally!
The keys that can never be found are just inanimate objects, and there is no moral value attributable to being able to find everything anyway. Q-Tip It!
The computer that freezes just when you�ve got an important report to print really IS just a stupid machine. Take a deep breath and repeat the maxim about accepting the things you cannot change. Above all -- Q-Tip It!
The supervisor who wants everything
done yesterday has a problem with time management and scheduling. You�re more likely to find a constructive way to deal with this of persistent stress situation if you Q-Tip It!
The 5 pounds you can�t seem to lose are just a ball of fat . . . not a moral failure. You know what to do � eat less, move more. So get moving . . . and Q-Tip It!
The kids who don�t call often enough probably really ARE busy (and didn�t you raise them to be independent?). Q-Tip It!
The colleague who consistently says you�re doing something all wrong is telling you more about her needs than about your way of doing things. Q-Tip It!
Got a spouse (or friend, or child) who seems always to ignore things you say? Odds are she/he is hard of hearing, forgetful, or caught up in her own priorities rather than trying to drive you nuts. Q-Tip It!
______________________________________________ (fill in your own stressors � and Q-Tip It!)
You get the picture . . . and the image, too. Stress is not what happens to us. It�s our response TO what happens. And RESPONSE is something we can choose.
So � Q-Tip It! Let Mr. Gerstenzang�s little white-tipped tool be a memory-hook, a way to ease the your personal stress reactions, the way YOU choose to respond to the happenings of your days.
� Maureen Killoran, SpiritQuest Coaching, 2004
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