That moment: You briefly but frantically go looking for your smart phone because you need to make a quick call and then realize it is in your hand … you were on Facebook on your smart phone.
I did this. Actually, I’ve done it several times. For just a moment I’m looking for my TELEphone. In that moment, my brain doesn’t recognize this device to make a phone call, it is a mini computer! (The next thing I do is look around again to see if anyone saw me do that.)
I wonder … how many times do we do this to the people in our lives? As we are looking right at them, we don’t see them for all they are.
We might be looking right at our spouse; we remember a funny incident and reach for our device to call/text/message a friend. Then, if we are lucky, we realize that our spouse is our best friend. But for a moment (or longer) our brain is wired to see our spouse as a provider, the trash taker-outer, the father of our kids, etc. If we treated him as a friend, would it make a difference in our marriage?
What about strangers? We might be looking at the clerk behind the service counter. For those few moments, your brain sees the clerk as someone taking your money at the counter. But what if you could look at that same clerk and recognize him/her as a human whose story you don’t know. If you smiled at him/her, asked how their day is and genuinely listened, do you think it would make a difference in their day?
What about your children? We could look at our children as little people who we must teach all the ‘right’ rules and manners. We end up saying “No, don’t do it that way, do it this way.” Our brains possibly could be trained to only really see them when something has gone wrong. What if we looked at them as all the possibilities and potential they are? And what if we talked to them in that way? “Why did you do it that way instead of this way.” Could that make a difference in how they view themselves?
Take a look at the people in your life. Do you see them for all that they are?
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