It's that time again - guest blogger!  This is Tammie from Soul Gardening - a wonderful writer and one of my favorite daily reads.  I'm hanging out at her place today, so go check it out.  For more posts like this one, also check out Binkytown and Motherhood Uncensored!

Taxonomy

by Tammie @ Soul Gardening

Human beings have an innate need to classify and name things. We’ve been doing it since the beginning of time. It is how we order our world and make sense of all of the information that surrounds us. Unfortunately, more often than not, we take the naming of things too far.

It starts out with the scientific. Take me for instance. I am a homo sapien. I am a female, Caucasian.

Then it becomes more rooted in sociology. I am married, with no children. From here we get more descriptive. I have red hair and hazel eyes. I am 5’4” and weigh 120 pounds. I like live music and scuba diving. And then the real fun begins.

In my lifetime I have been called many more descriptive names that have not been so innocuous, sometimes even by people I love. I have said the same or worse about other people often boldly, right to their face, other times only behind their back where the ugliness hurts me more than anyone else.

I have called myself many names as well, thanks to the little voice in my head that’s always so happy to tell me negative things when I need to hear them the least.

So I’ve started something recently. I want to combat some of the negativity that each of us encounters every day from others and from ourselves.

I’ve been making a point to tell the people in my life who I love and admire why they are special to me and what inspires me about them. Hopefully, I can make someone feel a little better from time to time. I’m also finding it really makes me feel great to focus on the positive.

It’s sad that people are so often surprised to hear nice things about themselves. Sometimes they wonder about my motives for saying such things. Those negative voices inside all of us must be working overtime these days.

As for my own little voice, I’ve been trying to tune her out, but it’s not easy.

She’s a real bitch.