Push! Dig deep! These are words you hear when someone is helping someone push. But what does that have to be with looking beyond? Well, first, look beyond what you see. For example, Azeena posted about Jean-Claude turning on the bathroom faucet. Well, what Azeena didn’t know was that I have become JC’s personal water butler. Whenever I walk past the bathroom he jumps in the tub and demands that I turn on the faucet for him. And don’t worry, we clean out the tub very well.
The other night I caught him sleeping in the tub. I guess he felt like this would ensure he would always get water! But what does this mean? It means that what you see might not always be the case for what’s happening. JC wasn’t turning on the faucet, it was me.
One data point does not a straight line make.
My only resolution is to try to think of things in a positive light. If you have one interaction with someone, a waitress that is rude, someone in a rush, instead of taking the negative view, I’m going to take the positive. Maybe they had a fight with their boyfriend or maybe there is a sick relative in the car. I tell you that this takes work and requires me to push and dig deep. Our first reaction is that people do things to us rather than responding based on their own experiences.
Just as it requires two points to make a line, it requires more than just a single encounter to fully understand someone.*
*Please note the one example to this is online dating. If someone sends you a message that is crass, rude, disrespectful immediately respond accordingly. Don’t ask me why this is but just trust me 🙂
Thinking positively is far more difficult than I thought it would be. But I continue to push! and dig deep!
Cats & All That ™ 