Deep into our woods last week, I was
hiking when I jumped up some turkeys. About five of them. Sometimes we see up to fourteen in our front yard nibbling on fallen birdseed. They quickly scurried off, but then slowed down when they realized I wasn't pursuing them.
Out here in the woods, a lot of creatures live here and get along. They coexist without conflict. Of course there are always prey and predator situations, but with most of the "relationships" in the forest, think birds, rabbits, raccoons, deer, and possums, harmony and peaceful abiding, maybe even mutual respect, is the way of the land.
That's true for humans also. Most people accept most people and we coexist peacefully. Kind of like cats. Throw fifty kittens and cats in a room and most of them are going to get along. Only a few will feel the need to cause trouble.
I am excited to be away this week for my Paint, Paddle & Play women's retreat. I spent weeks packing for the ladies and for myself. Any beach trip for me means getting all the bathing suits out and trying them on to see which ones still look okay and which ones are stretched out, and to decide if I
want to buy a new one just because.
I'm in a private Facebook group of elderly women. I just had to say that and try it on. I don't see myself as elderly (how old is elderly anyway?), but if I
were still 20 years old, I would call this an elderly women's group. Anyway, I did buy a new suit for the retreat, a two-piece with a couple of options for the bottoms.
Without going into all my body
thoughts and age opinions here, I shared those with the ladies and asked for honest feedback and also asked them how they deal with bathing suits at this age.
It's a pretty big group, thousands and
thousands of women. At least 100 women took the time to say they loved the suit, that I looked great, and whether or not they preferred one of the two bottom options.
However, one woman took the time to
write, "That suit doesn't do a thing for you and that's a gross color." She decided to be the one among hundreds to shoot an arrow, instead of abiding in harmony.
I've come so far in life that I know not to
take things like that personally anymore, but to see it as a clue about the one lashing out. Most negative statements are more revealing about the person than the situation.
Trying to look past her words and see
her heart, I responded, "Oh friend, we are more alike than we are different. In fact, I bet we could be good friends."
I hope she knows I see her, and I get her. And I understand it's easier to throw a rock
than to deal with any discomfort someone brings up in us. She hasn't responded, but I trust her heart heard mine.
I had another recent conflict, two actually. I don't love it when it happens, but knowing how to
see deeper into the person(s) involved and myself really helps turn the situations into gifts. In this short video from my front porch, I related how I handled one of the conflcts as prompted by the quote in FTG on August 28.
Watch HERE.
Most people want to get along. Some people are just so wounded that they choose to attack or sling some mud when they feel confronted by something inside themselves. It seems like the easier response to them, rather than look inside and be open to what came up. Whenever possible, we have to
love them anyway. They need even more love than the rest of us.
So the moral of the story is don't be a turkey, be a kitten! Ha ha! Hope you laughed! Any story that ends with kittens has to be a good
story.
But seriously, be kind. See people's hearts. And when you encounter the one who acts mean, critical or disrespectful, be curious and extra kind.
