Wonderful person, or terrible Bi*ch? It’s all about perspective, isn’t it? Recently I had the
lovely experience of being called a “wonderful person.” I won’t go into the
details, but let me just say that I had gone above and beyond the call of duty
for a friend, for many years in fact. Being a yogini (credo: do no harm) who
was raised a Christian (love thy neighbor), I’ve always made it my goal to help
others. Actually, it’s not even a goal. It’s something that just comes
naturally to me; it was the way my mother was, the way I was raised--to be
loving, giving, and helpful to others.
BUT…there
is a dark side to every do-gooder, as I was reminded the other night when a
woman accused me of being nasty, pushy, and unreasonable. I don’t even understand how this could have happened, but one moment I was trying to clearly
explain my position, and the next moment I realized that the person I was talking
to was regarding me as a horrible demon. “Wait a minute!” I thought to myself. Doesn’t
this individual know that I am kind, loving, caring, and giving? Apparently
not. Apparently, at this moment in time, I appeared to be a terrible, evil, Bi*ch (sorry, but my blog is G rated--er, most of the time, anyway).
Now, most
of you who read this blog are my friends or associates and know this not to be
true (the part about me being the B word, that is). But there are plenty of people out there who may meet us once or twice
and form an entirely different opinion. How to deal with these misguided folks?
Convince them of our sincerity and worthiness? Pointless and useless. Probably
just better to let them think the worst. And might as well get used to it; not
everyone is going to like you. Not everyone is going to accept you, or
experience you as a “nice” person. And, on some days you are probably not
really going to be that nice, anyway.
Sometimes,
I think, it's good to remind ourselves that we are who we are no matter what others
believe. Other people can be wrong (or right). We know in our hearts whether/which
they are.
After the little incident in which
I was (inaccurately!) perceived to be nasty and mean, I described the
experience to my youngest son and asked his opinion.
“You just need to Namaste these people,” he
advised.
I loved that response. Don’t react,
don’t combat, simply “Namaste” them. Kinda like giving the finger in reverse.
Namaste: the
divine in me honors the divine in you. Even if you think I’m a Bi*ch!
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