A friend once told me a story about a flight she was on. She works as part of the cabin crew for an airline.
There was a guy she saw on the plane who was acting strange. Sweating, slightly pale, looking blankly into the seat in front of him.
It didn’t seem that he was paying attention to the safety announcements, he wasn’t wearing his seat-belt, he wasn’t saying anything at all when he was asked what he would like to eat.
“Is this guy on drugs?? Is he going to do something to put others in danger?”, she thought.
My friend decided to do something; she decided to speak to him.
“Are you ok?”, she asked.
The man responded:
“Sorry, my wife just passed away and I just can’t think straight…”
Yes, empathy and caring is important.
But what I found more interesting in this story is how interchangeable our emotions are.
We have the power to choose how we react to a situation.
I have come to learn that instead of getting irritated or angry by someone it is always more productive to be curious instead.
If you can just get curious and find out why someone is behaving the way they are you will have a happier, better life with more honest relationships.
Instead of having a negative reaction and letting things get out of hand, it is always better to lean into the discomfort and get to the bottom of things.
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