Through a discussion with my friends we stumbled across the notion of being right or being kind. In situations where emotions are charged it is easy to rage about being right and this being wrong. But what if we choose instead to be kind? Is there a way to bring love and kindness into any emotional charged conversations? Can I express my frustration and disappointment without being right?
At work I got an email questioning a decision that was made that I had been for weeks going around and double checking everyone was alright with. Now it is less then a week away and a light bulb went off in someone's head and yep as I had been trying to avoid, there is a huge problem that if they would have listened to me we could of fixed easily weeks ago. So here I am with a massive problem and little under a week to repair the damage. I heard roaring in my ears, my hands ball up, I just want to scream out my frustration. Then a quiet nymph whispered "be right or be kind."
My body responds my letting go of the anger balled up inside. The options are laid out in front of me: am I to be of service and help fix it OR do I hold onto my righteous anger because this could have been avoided if only they had listened? It is so much easier to hold onto what feels like the high ground and sneer at their stupidness but that feels horrible to cut myself off from my coworkers. So the option must be: be kind. Time to roll up the sleeves and do the work. Sweep up behind them and find answers to remedy the situation.
All in all being kind may feel harder to do, in the beginning, but with time this becomes an easier and faster reaction. Plus all that energy that I would of held onto can now relax and create a better environment to be in.