So here is the deal, we all experience the frustration of facing things we cannot handle. The person who steps too far, the trains that are too late, the weather or something else you can’t control.In one way or another, the frustration and helplessness of the situation will get to you “somehow” and set a mark on your day.
We live in a constant realm of conditions that is entirely out of our control. For our day to work, we are affected by thousands of people who all, in turns, are affected by thousands of other people, and so it goes on.
We are also beautiful individuals, with our own will and our own perfectly reasonable ideas of how things, in our world, are to be done. And so on.
With that in mind and considering how small the planet is, for us many people, we are to accept that living, breathing and participating in this society, we would be prone to moments that don’t right to the way we expected.
So what tools should we have in the toolbox, to get through a life with bumps and bruces?
The society model we live in today, argue for taking the high stance, asserting your right and aim for the mountain peak, even on account on others if necessary.
Does that make one happy?
Now, I believe in the value of the contribution to the socio-ecological circle that I happen to be in and that, though a positive and constructive approach, we are collectively able to make the greater impact.
In my head, the first steps are to find a method to accept our part in that “greater chaos” that the world is today and find ways to take those “bumps” that we have on the way.
Yesterday, the train was late and I, once again, missed that important meeting, but that’s okay.
I was bullied at school, but that’s okay.
I was pushed behind the line at the checkout counter, but that’s okay.
“There is a certain kind of dignity we admire, and to which we aspire, in the person who refuses to meet anger with anger, violence with violence, or hatred with hatred.” – Desmon Tutu
If we apply this thought to the scenario, I think we have a much better framework than where we started. If we dare to use the idea of unconditional forgiveness and will for change, also in the situation we stand it, I think we hold a different sense of emotional capacity and freedom. Also to take the task of changing the conditions behind that very experience
And it all starts with a “but that’s okay.”