Please Don’t Be Mad, But You May Need to Hear This

Have you ever had a coworker snap at you for no reason? Have you ever had a family member respond in a grumpy manner? Have you ever had a fellow driver cut you off or make you wait unnecessarily?

Why can’t other people live up to our expectations? Instead, they get in bad moods when they have a bad day, they get frustrated when they’re stressed, they make mistakes, and they let us down. My husband forgets to take out the trash. My daughter doesn’t tt put her clothes away. A coworker forgets to communicate a change in the project.

What if you could shift your perspective and see these challenges as opportunities to practice understanding, to forgive other’s imperfections, to remember that we are all imperfect humans with tender wounds and scars?

I remember many years ago when my friend Jen said she had asked God to give her more patience. “And he gave me my son.”

What if other people who aren’t perfect are actually our teachers? What if their words and behaviors are actually a way for us to learn about ourselves and areas we may need to work on?

Sometimes you get what you want. Other times you get a lesson in patience, timing, alignment, empathy, compassion, faith, perseverance, resilience, humility, trust, meaning, awareness, resistance, purpose, clarity, grief, beauty, and life. Either way, you win. – Brianna Wiest, TinyBuddha.com

What if we could get curious about ourselves instead of jumping to defensiveness or judgment of them?

We witness other people’s storms from the shelter of our own perspectives. Let’s be mindful that we don’t add the cold rain of judgment to their already soaked spirits. – Liz Newman

I’m not saying this is easy. But even if you can remember this in a few situations, see how it changes YOUR words and behavior. And then, notice how that change impacts your interaction and your relationship.