Perspective check
It’s easy to get wrapped up in our own stuff. Sometimes it’s called being self-centered and self-absorbed. Sometimes it’s called responsibility and management.
When we are dealing with our own stuff, it’s easy to start to feel that we fly solo on this journey. And yet, we never do. We are always in relation to and with others.
A spouse. A family member. A friend. A colleague. A person at the checkout counter. The one who fills your online order. The folks at your Internet provider. Your dog or cat. The plant in the corner. The birds at your feeder.
Sometimes when we attend to our own stuff it’s called self-care. And the cosmic humor of us attending to our self-care stuff is that others can become… Well, let’s just say that there are lots of synonyms for frustrating confusing difficult annoying opportunities to practice being gracious.
They seem to be taking me for granted lately. Can’t she return my email? Geez, he seems needy at this time. Couldn’t she have looked me in the eye? Why did they put this in such a big box? Why is my connection so slow today? Seriously, you need to go out again?!? These leaves are so brown. Where did the hummingbirds go?
It’s all about perspective. As in, we have ours and they have theirs.
They are overloaded with a new hire at their job. She has been feeling sick the past couple days. He is struggling with his teenage son. She is worried about her mother who is at her first day in the new facility. They used what they had to get the order out on the day it was placed. The provider is working on repairs. Earlier, your dog prioritized greeting you over completing their outside business. Your ignored plant is thirsty and lonely. The hummer feeder is infested with ants.
I don’t have to perceive through everyone else’s lenses. I just have to know that we all view through our own.
And, I don’t believe that anyone wakes up and plots how they can screw with my day.
Usually.
In all tests of character, when two viewpoints are pitted against each other, in the final analysis, the thing that will strike you the most is not who was right or wrong, strong or weak, wise or foolish… but who went the greater length in considering the other’s perspective.
Don’t you agree?
The Universe
Mike Dooley
gina drellack 