This is a thought provoking and hopefully attitude and action resulting article! If that is proper English….

I especially like this statement in the article: “I have also realized that every interaction is the opportunity to do good and receive good.”

As they say in baseball, for me this is a can of corn (that is, easy) when there is no stress. However, I can get stuck on what I perceive as toxic behaviors.

BUT, what the author Megna is telling me, is that my baseline view and resilience are not where they could be. If they were, then I would not be affected in these stressful situations – any more than the easy ones. They say your true self comes through when under stress. Am I making any sense of what you wrote Megna?

So, my takeaways from your article:

1) I am on the right path in strengthening myself as a person – raising my baseline, and
2) when I encounter stress, I need to use it as an opportunity to do good and to receive good. This is an analog pattern that will require less heavy lifting as I improve on goal number one.

Being a creative person with a sense of humor, in personal growth mode, I see this as achievable if I see it happening and change my approach to being positive. A couple months ago, I got stuck with a type A person who kinda made passes at me that I did not like. Things got bumpy for a few weeks. When they got into me I would be less than my usual self. In a recent meeting though when they started attacking me, I diffused the situation with a little humor, and kept my cool. The other person realized they were over the border again and backed off. The meeting went ahead and afterward I got a compliment for running the meeting well. Aha eureka! Baby steps!

Thank you for your article Megna!

What do others think? Where is your baseline? What can you do to improve it? What sorts of positive interaction stories can you share that demonstrate growth in this case?

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