I want to tell you a little story that happened to me recently that I felt like sharing.
It's kind of,
It's both beautiful and funny and ironic,
Whatever you want to,
However you want to decide when you when you end up hearing the story.
But sometimes when we're doing all this inner work to shift and change our energies and we're mindful of how we are,
We're mindful of how we act in society,
We're mindful of how we are in relationships with friends,
Relationships with a partner,
Relationships with our co-workers,
We don't ever sit back and go,
Oh wait a second,
I've done really,
I'm doing good work.
Like I,
If you do want to ever give ourselves a pat on the back because we don't have perspective.
Well the other day I kind of got a kind of cool perspective.
So I moved to a different part of Nashville.
I'm on the east side now and there's this pizza place that I really wanted to try out.
And it's a brewery and got good pizza,
So I decided that I was going to go grab a pizza to go.
So I drive to the pizza place.
I parked the car in a parking lot that's very empty,
Which was weird.
It's kind of first little sign of weirdness,
But I parked it there anyway.
And I go in and I order the pizza that I want.
And I'm sitting at the bar kind of waiting for the pizza.
And the bartender comes over and goes,
Hey,
Do you want to grab a beer?
And I love the beer at this particular place because I've had it before.
So sure,
I'll have a beer while I wait.
So I wait on my pizza,
Sip on the beer,
You know,
Watching some sports or whatever that's on the TV.
I don't think anything of it.
And pizza comes,
She gives me the bill,
And it was like 28,
29 dollars for a pizza and a beer.
I was like,
Wow,
That's a little pricey.
So with tip,
I ended up walking out of this building at about 33 dollars.
So this trip has already cost me 33 dollars.
I get to my car and I'm about to turn the corner to put the key in and I see that there's a boot on my front tire.
An old version of me having just paid 33 dollars for a pizza and a beer and looking at a boot on my tire would probably have freaked out and said,
Oh wow,
The world is out to get me.
But instead,
I kind of stopped for a minute and I went into that mindful space of,
Okay,
This is kind of funny.
Like this is just,
How can I handle this in a way that I would want to look back on and say that I handled it appropriately?
So there's a number,
There's the thing on the window that I had to peel off.
I called the guy on the phone and he was very rushed or whatever.
He goes,
Oh yeah,
That's your car,
I'll be there in 10 minutes.
So he shows up and now I kind of have a choice.
Like I look at this particular gentleman that pulls up in this beat-up truck that his job is to go around and boot cars and deal with people that are probably not happy to pay a fine for their car.
And it was one of those moments where I had a choice of like,
It's not his fault.
He's just doing his,
He's doing his gig.
And I sat back for a minute and I was like,
I have a choice about how this interaction can go and the way that I want to choose to make this interaction go is in a direction of positivity and joy,
Even though it's kind of a crappy situation.
And he got out his car and I could tell immediately that he was waiting for me to pounce.
And the first things I said to him,
First thing I said to him was,
Man your job is probably really,
Really difficult and I am so sorry for the way that people probably treat you.
And he immediately like relaxed and went,
My God,
You have no idea.
And then we had this really beautiful interchange and I kind of,
He told me what he did.
He talked a little bit about his family,
Which was kind of cool while he's taking the boot off.
And he threw the boot in the back of the back of the truck and pulled out the machine or whatever.
And he looked at me and he stopped and he said,
You know what,
If this was my company,
I wouldn't be charging you for this because I really appreciate,
You know,
Your demeanor and the way that you're handling this.
I said,
Man,
I totally understand.
I handed him my credit card and swiped it for 50 bucks and I said,
Man,
Have a safe night and I hope it's peaceful for you.
And as I was driving home,
$83 in the hole,
I was like,
I said to myself,
Wow,
I've really,
I've really seen a shift.
And it was a really beautiful moment where I looked at that and I said,
Maybe I,
This positivity got to him and some kind of thing happened where we had this interaction and the world is maybe 0.
0000001% better.
But I would take that story and maybe look at some times in your life when things go wrong,
Like when things come unexpectedly and you have a difficult time with something and maybe there's a perspective there that whatever it is,
Whether you believe in God,
Whether you believe in the universe,
Whatever it is,
There's something there that you can gleam out of even the bad stuff.
And you choose your reaction to everything.
Every event brings an emotion and then you get to choose the reaction.
So be mindful throughout your day and if things go well,
Also check in on that.
And if things go poorly,
Just take a step back and say,
And take that moment and go,
How can I react to this in a way that I want to look back on?
And say,
Hey,
Yeah,
I'm pretty,
Pretty proud of the way that I acted.
So,
Until next time,
Peace and love.
