I love the idea that we are all just being ourselves 24/7. I’ll hear someone complaining or voicing irritation or incredulity about somebody else. I think, they’re just being themselves 24/7.
You either like this person or not and if you like them, you like them. Period. The traits that might be labeled as negative, can also be seen as endearing. Man oh man, I hope that others can look at my “challenging traits” and see that I am still lovable. I am the whole package. We are all the whole package, simply doing the best we can 24/7. See this and you see the innocence on the behavior of other people. Our best is not going to mean we eliminate all our foibles, but given the attributes we have, we are trying.
My dear daughter loses her phone, forgets her keys, shows up late . . . She is also one of the most generous, caring, witty, and friendly people I have ever known. Few strangers remain strangers for long. Her gregarious spirit brings light and happiness to everyone she encounters.
Some relatives just can’t get over why they aren’t able to talk her into being . . .well, being more like they are. They find being unable to reach her because her phone is uncharged or maybe it’s traveling around S.F. forgotten on the seat of a Muni bus, to be intolerable. I just smile and laugh and think how much I love her. Her phone being lost, again, is just soooo Hillary. She is so Hillary 24/7, and I love her. Because of, not in spite of!!
A note in Hillary’s defense: For years she resisted having a phone at all, both because she didn’t buy into the idea that we all must be at the world’s beck and call at all times and because she knew that she would lose it.
Now that she can simply get a replacement phone for $10 and a trip to Best Buy, she carries a phone to make other people happy. She replaces it every few weeks or months. For her this is a perfectly good solution. But again, there are people who think replacing her phone frequently is somehow super bad. I think it’s a perfectly good solution. No beating your head against the wall about things you cannot change! Evaluate the situation. Then make finding a solution, instead of judgement, your goal!!
Smile. Be happy!
Ruth
Oh, the wheels on the bus go
Smiley, Smiley, Smiley.