Hello dear friends,
I am so excited to share this story of love and I hope you find value for yourself...
My sister called me recently to ask for advice on how to deal with a situation at her job. She explained she was experiencing a severe conflict with one of her supervisors and she was at her wit's end to resolve the issue. She said she was at the point where she didn't even want to go to work every day and was even considering leaving her job - and she otherwise loves her job.
She called her big sis (me) to ask for advice or suggestions for overcoming this daily obstacle to enjoying her job.
I suggested to her that she simply send love to this person, whom we will call "Cedrick" just for fun. I told her to imagine sending love to Cedrick and to envision Cedrick surrounded by a big bright bubble of love.
We talked about imagining Cedrick in florourescent orange underwear or a big gold crown or big floppy clown shoes so my sister would find humor instead of being intimidated and she would even feel protective and not threatened by Cedrick.
I helped her understand that the problem is not Cedrick, but her perception and her reaction to Cedrick.
That's tough to acknowledge when it also appears that others are having the same reaction to Cedrick. I explained that even those people are reacting to her perceptions.
I said it's all about YOU YOU YOU.
She was planning to take the following week for vacation so we agreed she would spend time during the week just directing love to Cedrick. I said "Just love Cedrick." Send love to Cedrick.
I said when you get back to work you could even say out loud, "I love you Cedrick," but she couldn't quite imagine doing that!
I told my sister how I sit on my back porch and say "I love you" to the cars that pass by my house, imagining that they feel a smack on the side of the face and they the feel loved and pass those feeling along to everyone they meet along their way. It's my way of sharing love with the world. Another way I share love is by saying "I love you" to the cars around me when I am driving.
During our last conversation before her vacation began, my sister said she had been invited to a pool party that afternoon and she was not planning to go. She was ready to begin her vacation and just relax and she did not want to have any commitments.
Several days later we talked again and she said that within one minute of hanging up the phone from talking to me, her phone rang and it was her friend who was having the pool party. She had learned that my sister was not coming to the party and she was calling to ask her to please come to the party just for a little while.
So my sister decided to go. She picked up another friend and they drove to the party together. My sister said that along the way to the party she was saying "I love you" to all the cars around her (even though her friends thought she was nuts!). She said cars kept cutting in front of her and she just "I love you."
I told her those cars must have felt that she was sending love and they cut in front of her so they could get an "I love you" from her too.
When she got to the pool party, her friend and hostess announced that the them of the party was.... get this now... "I LOVE YOU."
Everyone was walking around saying "I love you."
The hostess of the party even gave everyone the gift of a pedicure complete with a paraffin wax dip. They were amazed at her expression of love in service to them.
Who does that remind you of?
My sister said I was saying "I love you" to all the cars all the way here - and everyone thought she already knew the theme of the party and was just practicing... but she did NOT know the them of the party.
Because I believe we create our own experiences, I told her she CREATED that "I love you" party!
She was amazed at the power of those three little words, "I love you."
So, then a few days later she went back to work and she called me and said Cedrick appeared to be completely different. There was no more conflict and she realized that it was not Cedrick at all, but instead it was her reaction to Cedrick and she realized she had been over-reacting.
She said she now loves going to work again and actually looks forward to working with Cedrick.
This is such a wonderful example of the power of love... and an example of how our experience with others is really only a reflection of our own feelings. When we realize that we create our own experiences based on how we perceive those around us, everything changes.
People around us appear to change... but it's really only US. We are the only ones we can change... and then our perception of others changes.... which makes them appear to change.
Get it?
I love you.
Many blessings.