TLC Is More Than an Acronym

TLC Is More Than an Acronym

©Allen Merritt (2015)

I remembered an adage from my childhood for which I have been thinking about this week. This axiom is TLC.

My mother used to say things in short form such as XYZ, PDQ, which meant Examine Your Zipper, Pretty Damn Quick (i.e. your zipper is down) and, of course, TLC.

TLC is an acronym, which can mean many things.

Consider the following: Tables, Ladders and Chairs, Tasty Little Cookies or Tylenol, Liquids and Crackers (a hangover cure).

Contractions such as TLC are everywhere these days. Think about it. You may use many of them yourself, such as LOL or OMG! Additionally, acronyms for texting and abbreviating long phrases or organizational names have become quite popular, especially with the upgrades in telecommunications. Moreover, the ellipsis TLC is not only reserved for The Learning Channel (a television network) or a popular modern R & B girl band, but also for the concept of tender-loving-care.

In this day and age, every person, place or thing can use a little something to help them feel special and good about themselves. And, it shouldn’t come from a personal escape by way of drugs, alcohol or other addictions; the idea being to find a pathway towards ones-self and not away from ones-self. Okay, that’s a lot to say in a short paragraph, but it leads me to ponder about important things such as our human essence and core, human fragility and our ability to recover and be resilient in life. It is these thoughts which brought me to the subject of this little thing known as TLC.

When I think of TLC, I think of passion and compassion, a little kindness, gentleness, a touch, a smile and more importantly, a sense of care. It doesn’t mean a person has to be familial or intimately involved to be engaged and practice it with other human beings.

To me, TLC is like a suit of armor against the wackiness of the world when you are not finding the support you need to keep it real, especially when you think apathy is running rampant among us.

I personally believe all people need reminders every once in a while to reign ourselves back to the all important stuff. It’s easy to get distracted and caught up in the no nonsense. However, it’s nice to know that if you look around there are still beautiful things going on out there in the world related to the idea of TLC. For example, people helping people or senior citizens getting a little extra care when they need it most. Instead of focusing on all the negativity which saturates our media and our societies, we can center our attention on the good things, the positive things which feed our spirit.

I think a good place to start is by showing ourselves a little tender-loving-care. There are many ways to do that. For example:

• Smile at yourself when looking at your reflection
• Rub your hand up and down your arm
• Take a deep breath and exhale
• Encourage yourself
• Offer yourself a compliment
• Think positive thoughts
• Allow yourself to simply be in a moment

The list goes on and on. It starts individually and eventually transfers to those around you. So spread the good news! This week is all about Tender-Loving-Care. Show yourself a little TLC and then give others a little TLC.

TLC, PDQ = Tender-Loving-Care, Pretty Damn Quick!

Cheers!