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"For 21 days don’t verbalize any complaints, judgments, criticisms, or gossip." .....this takes uncompromising honesty and a degree of absolute truth with myself I don't think I've ever attained. If all I gain from this 21 day exercise is confronting the lies I tell myself, it will have been worth it. Another aspect of this challenge might be to verbalize acknowledgments, declarative statements of tolerance and acceptance, speaking such that our words strengthen and cleanse our environments.

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I agree with you, thanks for adding that. Such a nice way to balance out the criticisms, etc....this could be a very difficult 21 days given the world situation today!!!! But we can give it our best and, as you say, learn something about ourselves in the process!

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Yes, and today IS the 21st!!

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What a great send-off to us!

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Are you going somewhere?

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No, I meant a send-off as we begin our 21 days!

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Hmmm. I'm paid for feedback on people's writing. This is my solution to that:

The PQS Method of Giving Feedback.:

#1 Praise comes first because people build best on their strengths. "I love the character, Uncle John. I really want to know everything about him."

#2 Questions are second, and a really clever critique can address any problem in this way. It’s called the Socratic method. For example, “Why doesn’t Uncle John say more to Alex after he’s found the treasure?” It sounds so much less judgmental than saying, “Uncle John should say more” or “Uncle John doesn’t say enough to Alex.” Of course, this could even be done as praise: “I loved your scene with Uncle John and Alex so much that I wanted to hear more dialogue between them.”

#3 Suggestions are last and should always take into consideration that people’s opinions differ – not all advice is worth taking. Furthermore, suggestions should always be in the form of a concrete recommendation, rather than an ambiguous judgment. So, “You need to develop the characters more” is less workable than, “Readers will probably want to know how tall Uncle John is, how he dresses, and why he’s so morose.” Phrase all suggestions with “in my opinion” or “I think” or “in my experience” or quote an authority.

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These are all great ideas!

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Okay....here goes 🙄

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LOL!!!! Good luck!!!

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