A Quantum of Freedom: Re-Action
‘Let’s go out.’ ‘Nooo, please, I’d rather stay and have a quiet evening at home.’ ‘Come ooon — don’t be a spoilsport.’ …
It’s a well-known morsel of communication and often such dialogues lead to the most heated arguments known…
Many frictions and actual irritations in life originate from the idea that we need to get someone to agree, or conform with what we want.
Whatever the reasons for that — and there can be quite a few — I have found a very simple method to be an answer to the question: How to avoid that conflict — and still not be ‘left behind’, as it were?
I cannot change other people — but my re-actions are mine — always are.
It’s simple, to read and write down.
But in life it needs some new habits to form: Ask myself each time, what are the alternatives?
What can I do to make the best of any situation? What do I like to do, if option A is out of the question?
Sooner or later we find an answer, every time. Practically anytime there’s more than one option.
The freedom I mentioned comes from finding out more about options, variants and ultimately about ourselves.
Eventually, some of the pressure we already felt can be taken out of the equation — and sometimes even completely new ways open up.
There’s a lot of peace in this approach, peace of the mind.
