It stares me in the face like most oxymorons do.
Act naturally. Original copy. Awfully lucky. Alone together. Only choice.
One of my current intentions is to be invested in other people's lives without taking things personally.
The book The Four
Agreements keeps it simple: Be impeccable in your word. Don't make assumptions. Don't take things personally. Do your best.
One might think that any goal that can be as concise as to slip into four or so words would be a cinch to implement. Yet the human ego, a concept reigned in by a mere triplet of letters, expands like a cumulus cloud when the air pressure is falling.
A friend told me that she had succeeded in not taking offence
from a comment her husband made. In the past she might have felt deflated, or defensive. She could have retaliated. But instead she considered his statement, and the myriad of influences that could have contributed to them. It is after all early January, and the weather is not what you could call balmy. Her husband hates his current job, and reacclimating to the regime after the elbow room of the holidays could make anyone snippy. Add to these knowns any unknowns such as the
idiosyncracies of the digestive system and it is possible that what he said was in fact not what he meant.
I know I've done it. Sputtered the words "You're late!" when what I might have said was "I was worried about you." Accused someone of not helping when what I could have admitted was that I need it.
What I noticed about my friend was how light she sounded. She was free to have her reaction, independently of his. Which is I suppose what
it means to be alone together.
