I know a very inflammatory person who tends to make even the simplest conversation adversarial. Innocuous remarks turn into arguments as the volume raises and defense shields are activated. Contempt starts to ooze from their pores, even when it is completely uncalled for.
Typically, it’s not fun being in the same room as this person.
Which is why I try to avoid them as much as possible.
Well, recently, I found out they were let go from their company. And while it was “technically” due to layoffs, I’m sure — based on my conversations with this person — that the company didn’t bat an eye making this decision. Layoffs come, I understand. But rather than grappling with the gut-wrenching prospect of terminating a beloved employee, to the company, it was the baseball equivalent of getting Jeff Kent out of their locker room. (Or for football, DeSean Jackson.)
This cloud has followed them before: last year in November, this person was fired from their job. And during this person’s tenure, their relationship with their superiors was tumultuous, to say the least.
This same spiteful relationship even predated the firing in November with this person’s previous job.
Which brings me to my point:
They say the truth will set you free.
But are you ready for it?
For this person, the answer is no. And while they’ll probably find another job in the future, they will never know the powerful errors that will always hold them back.
Never. Either because no one will have the patience to tell them (or no one will care enough, frankly) or because they won’t listen.
The same goes for me: there were — and still are — powerful mistakes that held me back and led to unfortunate situations around me… much of it caused by me and my programming:
I’m too serious, I’m too sensitive, I’m too dogmatic, I’m often irascible, etc…
And it might not even be as high-level as that. Think about the emails you send or the messages you write — they’re could be a reason why no one responds. For example, people (for some reason) still randomly email me for workout advice. Some ask while others badger. Some are polite while others insist. How would you act?
Oh, if we could just meditate on that, how much different would we all be?
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