My meditative thought for today, is to treat others and myself with kindness, love, respect and compassion. Sounds pretty easy but, sometimes little things can trigger an unreasonable response. Recently, I was put on hold with an Online Chat team assistant, for an unusually long time. This was the second day in a row I had tried to access help from their staff as the previous day I had been disconnected after over an hour of wait time. My computer was not letting me log into this program, even though I was certain I using the correct password.
My usually tolerant self, went from 0 to 50 in a snap when the person came on line and said they could not assist me and I would have to wait another 24 hours, because I had tried logging in too many times. I texted back that I preferred the older version of the program that worked, instead of this crummy new upgrade and that they were NOT helping me. Yes, I used upper case letters for the word not- as though if I shouted it, they would listen more and magically fix everything. Frustrated, that they couldn’t help me, I finally hung up and then felt a heaviness inside my body.
This heaviness was coming as a message from my higher self, prompting me to shift the way in which I was perceiving life. I knew in my heart, that I could have handled the problem differently. Patience has often been a challenge for me and although I have grown a tremendous amount, I can still fall back into old patterns of controlling. I am aware too, that there was the element of being a stranger to the online tech, as if that gave me anonymity and permission to be unkind or judgmental. In hindsight, I realize that the tech was only doing their job to the best of their ability, and I had been overly critical of them. Perhaps, my sense of inadequacy with computer issues had been activated and I was feeling the discomfort that comes when I feel like I am not enough. Also, the problem of logging in, was still present and I had to deal with that frustration. However, the bottom line, is that none of these circumstances justifies treating another individual callously. I was being self-centered and cold rather than aspiring to be kind, loving, respectful and compassionate.
When I didn’t get what I wanted I conveniently forgot my commitment to be lovingly compassionate with all beings. The minute I forgave myself and the tech for being human and less than perfect, I detected some relief. I then tuned into the greater truth that we are all on this journey to honor one another and ourselves. Then I prayed for acceptance, and followed this with letting go of the outcome. When I have no attachment to the outcome, it is much easier to accept the conditions life brings me.
The next day, I was more calm and open-minded and had forgiven both the tech and myself, and I was willing to create a new password. Surprise! The program worked smoothly. I simply had to let go of how the situation would resolve itself. I smiled happily inside to not have to tackle the cyber world for the time being, and to be flexible enough to be teachable and begin anew with a new password and a new version of the software installed on my computer. I am sending prayers of peace to that tech halfway around the world.
I want to close with this quote from Martin Luther King Jr. “We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love… “