{"id":141582,"date":"2023-03-31T12:19:34","date_gmt":"2023-03-31T17:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/?p=141582"},"modified":"2023-03-31T13:45:24","modified_gmt":"2023-03-31T18:45:24","slug":"practicing-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/uncategorized\/practicing-change","title":{"rendered":"Practicing Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At GiGi\u2019s Playhouse, each month of 2023 has a particular theme. In February, the theme (not surprisingly) was \u201cLove.\u201d For the month of March, the theme has been \u201cChange.\u201d  Change comes in many forms, and it means different things to different people. But one thing that most people can agree upon is that \u201cchange\u201d is frequently difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have all been influenced and molded by various experiences we have had in our lives, and those thoughts and patterns of behavior tend to become ingrained. We fall back on expressions like, \u201cThat\u2019s how we\u2019ve always done it,\u201d or \u201cMy grandpa always said,\u201d or \u201cIf it ain\u2019t broke, don\u2019t fix it.\u201d We are often comfortable with the status quo, and changing the way we think or act requires conscious effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember a long time ago having a conversation with a good friend regarding gratitude. We remarked that the world would be a better place if more people had an \u201cattitude of gratitude.\u201d We pondered the point for a while, and then he said something that I have never forgotten. He said that, from his perspective, being grateful doesn\u2019t come naturally to most people. He believed that, in order to become more grateful, one must actually \u201cpractice gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He likened \u201cpracticing gratitude\u201d to a golf swing. People who are really good at golf got that way because they practiced. They practiced A LOT! In fact, they practiced until the swing they were working to establish actually became part of their muscle memory. They practiced so much that they no longer had to think about it because their muscles memorized the proper mechanics, and what was once a struggle had now become natural to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My friend continued on, arguing that you could apply the same principle to becoming more grateful. You make a conscious effort to practice gratitude every day. You look at the world and find something, no matter how small it is, to be grateful for. \u201cSomeone is ALWAYS worse off than you,\u201d he said, \u201cso that shouldn\u2019t be too difficult.\u201d Do that every day, over and over again, and soon being grateful will become a habit. Just like the golf swing, muscle memory kicks in, and being grateful has now become natural to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think we should practice the same mindset regarding \u201cchange.\u201d Consider our potential for changing the way we see individuals with Down syndrome. If we make a conscious decision to change for the better, and we regularly practice new thoughts and behaviors, pretty soon we might all look at individuals with disabilities in a whole new light. If we decide to forego stereotypes; if we decide to suspend judgment; if we decide to incorporate inclusion into our actions; if we decide to see the person instead of the diagnosis; if we decide to think for ourselves and forget about what we thought we knew, then we can change\u2026 one mind at a time, one person at a time\u2026 for the better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At GiGi\u2019s Playhouse, each month of 2023 has a particular theme. In February, the theme (not surprisingly) was \u201cLove.\u201d For the month of March, the theme has been \u201cChange.\u201d  Change comes in many forms, and it means different things to different people. But one thing that most people can agree upon is that \u201cchange\u201d is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141582\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/rockford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}