LISTEN to the podcast discussion of this article: Staying In My Lane
I am learning to be more receptive in my life. To listen more than I speak. (Not an easy task for me when I’m ON.) It’s a matter of respect.
I often find myself in complainer and hater mode. I hate your Tesla. I hate your tattoo. I don’t like your entitlement. Well, to be honest, I don’t like *my* entitlement, and seeing it in you triggers me. If we listen to the world around us and keep our own counsel it is easier to detach from the anger and frustrations swirling around us. We can be angry about current politics, but we don’t have to broadcast it, or ridicule people with different beliefs. We learn to let go of other’s agendas. We have no control over them anyway. Might as well enjoy our own and not put too much attention or energy on influencing or convincing others of our own point of view.
My little bubble of life is one of privilege and good fortune. I was born in a city that became a mecca of tech, entertainment, and conservative politics. While Texas is a very red state, Austin, and the other major cities are primarily blue. We live in an oasis of hope and help. We’ve got a long way to go to reach the empathetic posture I’d like to see in my state. Oh, and “the Alamo” stories we’ve been taught since elementary school, all lies.
As I listen for your voice, your viewpoint, your attitude, I can slow my own roll. I’m learning that silence is also powerful. Just doing my job, scanning products, bagging groceries, rounding up carts in the parking lot, is enough. I don’t have to be Robin Williams all the time. The entertainment is for my own satisfaction.
By focusing on things I can control (my actions and my words) I can let go of expectations of others, disappointments of others, and anger at the people with different viewpoints. I can release my own disappointment and resentment by tuning into a higher vibration. Finding love and humanism as the core of my lifeway.
How do you listen for love? Would it be easier to let go of all the things I can’t change? The past is done. The future is unknown. This moment, this present, is all we really have. Here in this moment, at this checkout lane in a grocery store, is where *I AM*.
[Listen to the Deep Dive explore the concepts of The Happy Cashier.]
The hope I see in others
becomes the hope I have for myself,
my life, and my own journey.
– The Happy Cashier
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ALT: Botisatva’s Bookshelf | The Happy Cashier Podcast
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