Monday was a beautiful morning. I had returned to work after nine glorious days of vacation and came back to a world that was calm; no fires to put out at all. I thought, “Wow, this is so perfect.”

And then…my phone rang.

I looked over and saw the name. “Ugh.” was my natural mental response. I never know what I’m going to get out of this particular person. One day they’re sweet and friendly and then other days it’s all about pushing their weight around. As always, I answered with a very happy and friendly greeting.

Not even a hello out of them…just a direct get-to-the-point question. Yep, this was going to be a push-your-weight-around sort of call. They wanted something immediately and I couldn’t deliver on their terms. Even my other attempts to remedy the situation was not good enough. (Deep cleansing breath) I am dumbfounded, as I always am, by these type of conversations. Good grief…it is as if I am supposed to blink my magic eyes to make it all happen.

I mean, is it really that difficult to just be nice? Common sense tells me that I’m going to get a whole lot further when I treat others with respect. In some odd way, I just feel sorry for those that feel they need to act in this manner. It must be hard to have close friends if this is the pedestal they have themselves on.

Isn’t it amazing – and sometimes awful – the amount of power that words and attitudes can carry with them? They can literally make or break those that they come into contact with. In a matter of a minute they had turned my perfectly happy morning into complete irritation and anger. I was seething…and so begins the conversation between my mind and heart.

I’ll spare you the sordid details because what came out of my mind wasn’t nice at all. I am not one to allow people to control how I feel about myself, but I was ticked and wanted to linger there as my gift of knitting words together wielded around like a sword in my mind. But finally, the shield of my heart stepped up and overtook my mind and I just stood there. A decision had to be made. Which road was I going to take?

Our roads of choice come in different shapes and sizes. Sometimes it seems enormous, with mountains and valleys that seem insurmountable, like when a huge and difficult decision needs to be made. Sometimes it seems medium in size, with hills and windy roads, like when we’re being tantalized by something we desire that we know isn’t really good for us. And sometimes it’s small, with little speed bumps and flying pests that just wants to buzz around in your ear where it causes just enough irritation to ruin a moment.

My heart said, “You have the choice and power right here. You can allow this moment to invade the rest of your day, or you can flick the bug off of your shoulder, ride over the little speed bump, and carry on.” I knew the decision I would make. I decided to take the road less traveled. FLICK! Gone, just like that.

Sometimes it’s an in-your-face issue. But sometimes it can come on so subtle that we don’t even realize we’re allowing it to change the course of the road. We allow it to invade our personal space, our attitude and our thoughts. We allow it to ruin a perfectly good day.

Today will have more roads to face, but I’m alert. I choose to not allow people, things and circumstances to have that sort of control over me. Onward and Upward! FLICK!!

Who’s with me?!
Happy Tuesday, friends.

~CindyLu~