What comes out of you when you get squeezed? When a squeeze an orange, orange juice comes out because that's what's inside. Stressful situations do not bring out the worst in us, they just reveal what is in us. Listen as I talk about this metaphor and use two real-life examples of how two beautiful people responded to very stressful situations:
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Show Outline:
Grocery store: man just verbally assaulted the cashier--a girl, maybe 19-20 years old--for some mistake she made. She wiped tears from her eyes. I apologized for his behavior to comfort her. She said it was OK, that she actually felt sorry for him. "He must be really hurting inside"!
My good friend, Jaime Primak-Sullivan, was on the Delta Airlines plane that crashed on Thursday, 3/5/15, in New York City. The next morning, she appeared on NBC's TODAY Show. I'm so proud of how she handled herself--really showed who she is and what is in her heart.
Dr. Wayne Dyer: When you squeeze an orange, you'll always get orange juice to come out. What comes out is what's inside. The same logic applies to you: when someone squeezes you, puts pressure on you, or says something unflattering or critical, and out of you comes anger, hatred, bitterness, tension, depression, or anxiety, that is what's inside. If love and joy are what you want to give and receive, change your life by changing what's inside.
So the question is this: what comes out when you get squeezed?
Is it anger, judgment, resentment, envy, distrust, cynicism, fear, hatred, rage, why me, victim thinking?
Or is it love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, compassion, trust there is a purpose, faith you will get through it, knowing that it isn't about you--it's about them.
Have you ever just snapped at someone, not meaning to, and thought "wow, where did that come from?" It's a good question. The answer is "it came from somewhere inside me and I need to find the source of poison and heal it."
Ultimately, the poison that comes out of us comes from a place that is wounded.
Story about dog getting run over.
We do things when we are hurting that we would not do when we are peaceful deep inside and content with our life--like the girls said: he must be hurting.
The wounded places within us come from a low self-esteem, a lack of love for ourselves and who we are, a lack of faith in a higher power that has a plan and purpose.
Ultimately, the wounds come from the story we tell our selves about who we are and we agree with the story, even though, deep in our hearts, we know it isn't true--and so we are at war with ourselves.
The tale of two wolves: One evening, an elderly Cherokee brave told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said "my son, the battle is between two 'wolves' inside us all. One is evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good. It is joy, peace love, hope serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith." The grandson though about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "which wolf wins?..." The old man simply replied, "the one that you feed." http://www.nanticokeindians.org/tale_of_two_wolves.cfm
So, the most important part of training yourself for the marathon of life is to first decide which wolf you want to win--in fact, which wolf you want to be--and then spend conscious, intentional effort feeding that wolf. You get to choose.
If you want to be the good wolf, feed it good, loving, healthy thoughts--these are thoughts about you, who you are, what you are, your self-worth. Affirm your life! Build yourself up. Affirm other people. Build them up. Speak kind words or don't speak at all.
I asked a friend how her husband was, she said "he is well." I said is that all?
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