It's a good thing relationships are NOT math equations.

I love going out with Spencer when we aren't too tired to talk. I've been struggling with a current situation that I've somehow created for myself, and he really helps me talk it out so I can make sense of things.

A thought I had while conversing tonight is, you can multiply as many positive numbers together and always get a positive answer, but you multiply one negative number in there and the solution then becomes tainted with a silly negative sign (math whizzes, I know two negatives equal a positive but my analogy stops with one).

Much like 100 truths can solidify a theory or hypothesis, but one fallacy causes the entire thing to bust.

Anyway, it's a good thing relationships don't work this way. Or that we have the power to control our perceptions or solutions to problems we face.

It's a good thing that even when someone does or says one wrong or hurtful thing, we have the power to choose the way it will affect us. No one is perfect. Tolerance is a commandment. We should always give the benefit of the doubt.

Recently, a family member said something that I had a really hard time with. It took me two days of really talking it out, praying, focusing on the positive, and trying to understand the other perspective, before I could get rid of all the animosity I felt. Now, I sincerely understand that what I heard was not what they meant. It's a great feeling being able to know that I can let go simply by choosing to be positive. I chose to focus my energy on appreciating the positive components of that time instead of the one negative thing that happened.

It's great to be able to choose your own solutions.

And another thing, sometimes we feel that urge to just blurt things out to another person because we are in the heat of the moment. And most of the time it ends badly. As in the case with my family member... For those two days I just had this letter brewing in my mind that I was determined to write and send. I was going to stick up for myself and really make them feel the rudeness of their comment. But after I got to that point of freedom, after I released myself from the animosity I chose to shackle myself with, I realized that absolutely nothing positive would have come from giving a piece of my mind or even defending myself.

Actually just two days ago... I did give a piece of my mind to an even closer family member, and at the end I vocally admitted that no good came of saying what I thought, I felt no better about anything in our current situation. Further verification that some things should go unsaid. Always.

Anyway. Here's to learning a valuable lesson.

If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

And lastly, if you have to let it out. Write it on a piece of paper and burn it afterwards... Or, if you like making sail boats out of paper, and a river or stream is close by, watch your bad thoughts and feelings sail away!