Recently Weight Watchers launched their new platform: Points Plus. I wish them well in their continued success in the dieting and food arena. Inspired by their bold shift in focus, I am introducing my own points program. It is a diet, but not of the food variety. My points program is based on overall attitude rather than foods and exercise. I am naming it “Mood Minders” (an alliteration to assure winning branding).
Mood Minders works like this. We start out with twenty points per day, with an extra forty points for the week to use at your discretion. You can use a portion of your weekly points daily, or you can save them up and have a full fledged tantrum at the end of the week, if you like.
Neutral moods are zero points. So, if I’m observing a situation but not getting upset or making it personal, then it’s a zero points experience. For instance, if I’m watching a driver parallel park on my block, and I notice they must be from the suburbs where they normally park in a lot, but I am not critical of the many maneuvers they make to come as close as ten inches from the curb, then it’s zero points. However, if I make a nasty comment to my husband and we banter on about our superior parking acumen as compared to the shnook in the car, then it goes from zero points to costing me four points. Two points for being catty, two points for innocuous gossiping. Cruel gossip can cost as much as ten points, since it’s not just a mood, but can be mean spirited.
We earn the most points, eight, by volunteering, random acts of kindness, and true forgiveness. Laughter and joy earn us a hefty five. Patience and generosity are also worth six points. And, the good news is patience for yourself, as well as for others, is counted as well. I was able to earn my six points when I made a mistake in my Mood Minders meeting by pronouncing omniscient, “omni cent.” While being corrected by one of the self proclaimed intellectuals in the group, I felt my face flush, thanked him for correcting me, and smiled meekly. If it weren’t for my minding my points, I might have made a pathetic excuse, while silently cursing him for saying anything. Instead of costing me points, I gained points, forgiving myself for my error, and forgiving him for using my mistake to show off.
Based on my new program, my well wishing to Weight Watchers gave me three bonus points. I can later use those points in the event I find myself being critical, like when I ask tight lipped that my husband pick up his dirty socks again, as I did yesterday and the day before that. Of course, a program as rigorous as Mood Minders should be done with the support of a group and a group leader (me). Note: I do not lose any points for arrogance since I did not claim to be a great leader. I merely stated my role within the group.
Let’s take a look to see how some of patients, I mean Mood Minders group members, have fared …
Norma wasn’t quite depressed, but she was constantly comparing herself to others, whining that her life wasn’t as good. She had been known to describe herself as miserable. This always cost her four points: two for complaining, and two for burdening others with her gloom. It took the loss of many points in meetings to get Norma to finally track her points. She as appalled and dismayed to find out that while she viewed her misery to be the fault of others, in the end she was in a point deficit herself. She started recording, and has now created herself anew.
