Knotted Rope

For everyone with a few decades in the rearview mirror (at least say 30 years of life experience), one thing becomes abundantly clear: it is really, really, really hard to undo behaviors.  If you’ve ever had the joyous pleasure of attempting to untangle Christmas lights then you get the basic gist of how frustratingly hard it is to change adult behavior.  We’re all riddled with years of knots that only grow tighter over time.  Every one of us.  

So a few things happen when something presses against these knots.  We bristle.  We stop listening and start an internal conversation of “how can they be saying this”.  Some people react immediately.  Some wait until the person is gone and then share the discontent with someone else.  Depending on the intensity of the knot some leave the parking lot with a few choice expressions in the car.  No matter…we’re all guilt and all the same.    

There is a simple answer to addressing these behaviors.  Be kind.  That’s all.  The simplest but most difficult thing to do.  Be kind.  

Accept or deny as you like but we’re all dysfunctional.  But here’s that one light bulb flickering to life that was keeping the whole strand from working…we’re all extremely resilient and capable of change and being kind toward one another.