When something unpleasant happens, like you’ve noticed someone has broken into your car or stolen your purse, how do you react? Everybody is occasionally affected by the actions of misguided people. Though it may feel like a violation, do you further violate yourself by remaining angry? Next time you have this kind of irritating experience, try to look at it with curiosity, handle your affairs calmly and keep your eyes peeled for something interesting to emerge from it. Remember, the story of the farmer?
Neither good, nor bad.
Steve and Jarl
I love that farmer story since the first time around. I have developed two stock answers to “outrageous” comments, and a third I learned from Alice Walker. The first is this farmer’s “Perhaps!” In really contentious scenes where somebody is near the boiling point, “Perhaps you are right!” Alice Walker’s is “Gracious!” The loveliest part of these things is that they remind me that the emotional energy is not mine and doesn’t connect to mine. So I separate from the anger rather than feeling responsible for it, which makes me feel like that farmer. That high wave we see approaching us is something we will soon find cradling us from below!
Ooh, I love that Larry, “That high wave we see approaching us is something we will soon fin cradling us from below.” Beautiful.