sweetie_flip-flopsUnit 1 Lesson 1 – Exercise 1.1

Introducing Sweetie

When our friend Sweetie was growing up, she had two things working against her. She was born without any stink glands, and she lost her parents when she was very young. All the other little skunks teased and bullied her most of her life because she was different. And then, quite by accident, she learned the power of positive thinking by rummaging through trashcans.

One day Sweetie was so hungry her stomach hurt, so she set out on her way to find something to eat. She came upon a trashcan, grimaced and thought, “I bet there isn’t anything but a bunch of gross, moldy food in there.”

When she opened the lid, Sweetie saw that she was right. There was nothing but disgusting, moldy food in the trashcan. The thought of eating what she saw made her stomach hurt even more, so she decided to keep looking.

She scurried down the road and found another trashcan. It appeared clean enough on the outside, but Sweetie was skeptical. She thought, “All I ever see in trashcans is horribly, slimy food. My stomach hurts so badly that I can’t stand to see anymore revolting food!”

She cautiously lifted the lid to the second trashcan and peered inside. Sure enough, it only contained smelly, sickening food. Her heart sank, and Sweetie thought so many STINKIN’ thoughts that she started to cry.

“Why can’t I ever find something delicious to eat?” Sweetie thought. “Every time I find a trashcan, I think it’s only going to have something awful in it, and I’m right!”

Then she had an idea! Sweetie thought, “What if I imagined there was a sweet chocolate cake and some fresh berries in the next trashcan? Is that what I would find inside?”

She was determined to hold that wonderful thought in her mind until she found another trashcan. She scampered down the road and found another trashcan. She pictured herself enjoying fresh food and imagined the full belly she would have.

Sweetie gingerly opened the trashcan, and what do you think she saw?

That’s right, she saw exactly what she had imagined! The trashcan held half of a chocolate cake and fresh blueberries and strawberries, and she savored every bite.

From that moment on, Sweetie tried this experiment every day and changed her whole attitude about life. Now she teaches all the little stinkers how to think positively and get rid of STINKIN’ THINKIN’.