The Parking

My coffee house plans are getting messed up with this 2 hour parking scheme they have going on downtown.  It's really pretty bogus. I keep having to move my damn car, thus interrupting the flow of my work.  So now I'm at Panera because they have a parking lot.  And freezing cold air conditioning that's freaking me out.  And now I'm actually blogging which is not on the daily plan at all.  But I'm also reading Opening Minds by Peter Johnston,  about the impact teachers can have on students by using language that's open ended, positive, process oriented.  It's hard to believe some of the amazing results of these studies.  Just a few changes in phrasing, and the participants have totally different approaches to their next tasks.   I do believe language is about the most powerful thing we have going, so I'm going to be practicing dynamic mindset talk with family members this summer. I'll be encouraging Husbandman when he makes coffee tomorrow by saying stuff like, "You've made some tasty coffee here.  Can you think of other ways you could have made the coffee?"  And with the kiddos I'll start process oriented conversations with comments like: "You just wrote an article for Kinsey.  Tell me how you figured out how to do that?"  And "You practiced bass for an hour.  How did you keep with it for so long?"  It sounds like I'm making fun of Johnston's book, but I'm not.  I'm in it to win it my friends.  My language use will be changing this summer.  And I'm moving from fixed mindset to dynamic mindset.  I'm using language to change my life and the lives of those around me.