Choose Peace.
I have listened to several teachers say that at any moment of your life that you can choose peace. You can choose how you approach anything that life throws at you. If someone cuts you off in traffic or takes the last parking place that you were waiting for, there is a choice as to how you react. You can be angry, swear, give them the middle finger, and consequently you will be in a poor mood for sometime afterward.
Now, I like to think that I am evolving. I am gaining in wisdom and patience and tolerance and understanding. Sometimes, that image is shattered as I find myself acting exactly the opposite that I want.
I lost the directions to a place in Austin. I thought I knew exactly where it was. However, when I arrived there, it wasn't there. It looked like the office building that was in the picture on the web. It really did.
I stopped at a library branch and tried to look it up on the Internet, but all the terminals were taken and there were three other people waiting for one to open up. I looked in the yellow pages in the library and could not find the listing. Finally, being a little frustrated and impatient, I called my Dad and asked him to get on the Internet and search for me. This was on a cell phone, parked in the library parking lot, looking at the time on my dash, and wondering if I was going to be late or not.
Dad did the best that he could, but I was short with him, frustrated, impatient. I could have handled it a lot better. He probably felt upset that his son calls him and all he does is demand that he do the Google search the correct way. Some son.
I made it in time. However, I felt bad that I lost my cool.
Choose peace. The phrase never entered my head until the whole episode was over. I wish it had. If it is a choice between being late or being a butt to my dad, I can afford to be late next time.
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