Spiritual Slap

The most recent bit of How Yoga Works really convicted me. Friday showed the Captain that he has been blaming others for acting a certain way, upsetting him, when he had the power to change his own perspective all along. She accused him of stubbing his own toe and getting upset with others for causing his pain. This particular analogy left me feeling enlightened. Of course! I judge people and get upset when I can't change whatever it is I don't like about them. I am fully capable of changing the situation around.

I quickly let myself step into the role of "the victim." I don't even have to go that far. When I believe that a person is irritating in and of herself, I am only contributing to her irritating behavior because I'll likely treat her as if she's being irritating. Then, in an irritated state, she will be rude to me and the cycle will continue. (Self-fulling prophecy, ftw)! Continuing in the dramatics, I say, "wah wah, she doesn't like me." Well, it would certainly help if I try treating her better than she treats me. Not to one up her, but to win her over. I must also remember that everyone has bad days. It's possible that I'm catching this girl on an especially rough day. I used to work in retail. For some reason, customers often like to take their stress and grief out on we salespeople, either in making us their therapist for half an hour, or by treating us as badly as they feel. I had to remind myself that the latter group have families and people who have to go home to them. Then I would feel bad for those families, and try to treat the customer kindly. Or, I would remind myself that the family might see this person as sweet and endearing, and they deserve to be treated as such. We can all use some respect.

*sigh of exasperation* These lessons are easy to write about, but not so easy to practice. Best wishes, y'all.