Imagine a world where we are all well slept, have a good level of general health physically, in loving relationships and have support in various areas of our lives.
Parenting, managing, friendships or general interactions with strangers at times requires a range of responses. Depending on your values, belief, agenda and experiences, even the amount of sleep you have had or how many drinks the night before you had, it can influence how you respond or react. Then if you were to really think about how you may respond it can be a mind field of options because you simply don’t know who you are dealing with, what is going on in their life and what you are going to get back in return these days.
Maturity, experience, health – physical and mental, goals, belief, values along with a raft of other filters bring people to have a particular view on situations and a lot of the time each person if they simply brought honesty to the situation a lot of tension throughout society would be reduced dramatically. Unfortunately lot of people don’t make the effort, aren’t mature enough. aren’t even aware, or have the skills to deal with confronting and emotionally charged moments.
Most people are struggling to get through their day because they are pre-occupied, stressed, suffer poor health, sleep deprived or worried about something or someone and generally distracted from being present. With this day to day noise going on, people are not always at their best and will default with their behaviour and it usually isn’t their best version.
A number of times people will be in preservation mode, finding ways to top up their energy levels and struggling to be their best version and act in the best interest of others. It can be unpleasant, disappointing, brutal and outright cruel what happens between people.
Where you can take a breath, take a knee, take a nap, take a moment, grab a glass of water, sigh and if you can think of the other person as someones son or daughter your whole framework will shift. There are millions and millions of people out there with varied backgrounds, coupled with a fast changing society that are not skilled, not prepared, not brought up not knowing how to handle a lot of situations they are presented with daily. Then there is the social media layer that is playing out right havoc on people these days.
I guarantee you, if you choose to see the other person as a son or daughter, you will find a way to be a better version that will serve the other person. Let me be clear, it is not always about being nice. To best serve that person in the future, you may have to hold them to account, remind them of their responsibilities, guide them through a process that educates them on an opportunity to grow or learn an important lesson. Not the most comfortable situations at times and tricky to deliver on in the moment however this is our chance to guide, lead by example and incrementally improve and serve other people, communities and broader society.
It’s my opinion that a lot of people are suffering, emotionally, professionally, financially and not guided or seeking support and guidance during difficult times. Some people are in complete denial and that will be another post. My experience with people in general is they are welcoming and open to a softer approach and being delivered a moment of reality, it may not sink in immediately, but there is a good chance it will resonate later. Most people when they take a moment and be honest with themselves know they could do better, be a better version of themselves and achieve so much in their daily lives with a more honest, humble and empathetic approach their fellow person.
Next time you have a tricky moment and wondering should you address a point, take a moment to reframe and you’ll feel the shift and see a different result. If you can add the extra layer of how can I best serve this person, you might even make their day.
Stuart Keith
Dad's My Hero 