Three years ago, our entire family was planning a trip to Italy for Josh and Wendy’s wedding. Two weeks before the trip, Shannon realized she had not put Connor on her ticket. I did not see it as a problem, as Connor was young enough to sit in her lap. “I’ll call the airlines and make sure its taken care of.” What happened next was completely unexpected and uncomfortable.
As I explained the situation to the airline agent, I was immediately attacked. “Just when did you plan to inform us this infant would be with you?”
I innocently replied, “Well, right now. That’s why I am calling you.”
Wrong answer! Her rage let loose and I found myself being scolded like a child in a very abusive way. I could feel her anger pulling me in, and for a moment I wanted to join in her anger game and abuse her back.
That moment quickly vanished, however, when I allowed myself to remember that I did not want to be angry or abusive. It would have been easy to jump in and abuse her back; instead I allowed myself to watch her behavior without reacting to it.
The next moment was quite profound. I felt this spark and then a thought. I waited until she took a breath, and in my most compassionate voice, I let her know, “I am going to hang up now and call back so I can talk to someone who wants to be nice to me.” Down went the receiver.
As always, the angels were kind, and when I redialed Air Italia’s phone number, a gentleman answered the phone. This assured me I had a new person on the other end.
“Are you in a good mood or a bad mood?” was the first question I asked my new agent.
He gave out a hearty laugh and replied, “Why do you ask me that?”
“Because the last agent I spoke to was very angry, and I need help, not anger. Can you help me?”
“What do you need?” His voice was compassionate!
I quickly explained the situation. “Give me a moment, I’ll be right back,” he replied.
In two minutes he was back on the line, “No problem, Mrs. Wojcik. Your family is good to go.”
I learned a valuable lesson that day. People will only abuse me if I allow them to. The power to avoid abuse is within me. I hope that I taught the angry agent a valuable lesson as well. Problems can be solved quickly, easily and painlessly simply by being kind to one another.
As we heal vibrationally, we understand that others’ behaviors do not have to affect our own. Instead we learn to trust that we are attracting these experiences as an opportunity to heal the same energy that is within our self. It is these pivotal moments that allow us the option to choose differently, moving us away from the pains of our past and into the joys of our present.
1 comment:
Bravo, Linda! You handled that situation beautifully! You chose not have a knee-jerk reaction which would have allowed her anger to automatically trigger your anger. We all have the capacity for anger. Instead, you allowed yourself a moment of reflection which made a space for you to react from a place of love. We all have a huge capacity for love because that is who we are at our core. You attracted that situation in order to give yourself the gift of choosing differently...and to give us the gift of having a beautiful example of how life can flow, if we give ourselves a chance to reflect and make our choices from love! Thank you!
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