Friday, August 12, 2011

"You can only be young once. But you can always be immature." —Dave Barry

Being a mature adult. So. I’m taking this to mean no adult temper tantrums, ‘notice me, notice me!’ antics, blurting out stupid insults, putdowns or 'neener neeners', or speaking without thinking. No, the emotionally mature read the social cues in any situation and adjust their behavior to ‘appropriate to the moment’.

Maturity includes the ability to regulate emotions, delay gratification, maintain a calm demeanor, and an ability to schedule the hard stuff first. So says Social Science.

It means we get over having to be right all the time, or our ‘what’s in it for me?’ attitude. The mature don’t bully and they don’t boss and they don’t gloat.
And above all, the highly mature internalize personal accountability.

Oh, sheesh. It’s tough being an adult. Such a stinkin' life-long process to grow up. But the ability to recognize when we are being immature, to step back when acting like a two year old, and remind ourselves that the goal here is to become civilized, well, I hope that counts for progress. Because I have been doing a lot of ‘oh crap, why did I just say that?’ lately.

The easy thing is to remain childish, selfish and unaware but it’s not very fulfilling. And it’s embarrassing. We look like, well, immature jerks. He he he.

Here then, this says it better:

http://www.appleseeds.org/PDF%20Files/10-11/Steps_Maturity.pdf

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