Friday, January 12, 2018

You don't know the story

Every day we encounter so many people: family, friends, co-workers, consequential strangers, and the regular kind. We can never totally not know their day, their story; their ups and downs; their trials and tribulations; their hopes and dreams.

Some of those people may not know that today is a good day.  They may even be having a bad day.  Your interactions with them may be difficult; they may be troublesome; they may be irritating.  They  may contribute to making your good day . . . less so.

Situations like that provide opportunities for us to make a good (or better) day.

We can try to know those stories; to find out the why.  Sharing what is bothering a person may be enough to improve the day.  Knowing that there is someone out here who cares enough to listen can be a gift.  It's possible that we have a real solution to their problem.  Caring doesn't always require excessive effort and any effort could make a difference.

If time or place or situation (or who we are) makes it difficult for us to connect and help we can accept that we don't know their story and understand that it's not our story and doesn't have to make our day less than good.  Sometimes stepping away is the best thing we can do for ourselves.

Remember:
-Their story is not our story .  .  . and we don't have to let them take us down
-Our stories can cross  . .  . and we can work to make them better
-Our story will continue . . . and we control our story