Whenever I witness some less-than-stellar behavior coming from adults who should know better, I get all hot-faced and hand-wringy and consumed with the urge to stop the world and tell all the mean people to get off. Until I learn to control the earth’s rotation, however, I’m going to adopt this trick, sent in by Jennie from She Likes Purple and the Style Lush and Food Lush sites over there in the sidebar:

Every time someone says something rude or short or just semi-hurt-feelings-y, I turn around and send a card, a just-because gift, or a “thinking of you” email to someone else. I got the idea from a friend who gave me great advice about a friendship that was negatively sucking all my energy: “Take all that energy you spend on her and put it toward making a new friend or a friend who makes you feel good.”

I love the idea of counteracting a negative act with a positive one, and that it can be done for as little time and effort as it takes to send an email. Those are words to live by, and I know from personal experience that Jennie does live by them, balancing the world with goodness one kind thought or deed at a time, and the people who know her (and even some who don’t) are better for it.

Letterpress “Thinking of You” card from Concrete Lace on Etsy.