The Peaceful Approach

Something got me really riled up the other day. I was talking to my mother-in-law on the phone yesterday, and I mentioned it. There I was, ready to scream my lungs out, bang head on the wall, and throttle a person or two.

My MIL's response? Pray for them.

Say what?

But it makes sense.

And it got me thinking about the more peaceful approach to problem-solving, no matter what the problem is. If you're like me, certain things irk and irk you, until you feel like your blood is boiling. But instead of focusing on the annoyances, look at what is causing them. Generally, it's a sad or unfortunate thing that is causing the situation or causing the person's behavior.

Oftentimes, I think the use of prayer is way overdone. Not everyone wants to be prayed for, and not everyone is comfortable having that much religious influence in their lives. But stepping away from actual prayer, just using REFLECTION to look at the situation and it's provokers causes one to see the situation from a different perspective.

It's a very peaceful approach.

I thought about it last night when a friend of mine was going through some major problems with a landlady. I wasn't involved in the situation, which perhaps made me better realize why she was acting a certain way. Her motivators weren't to screw him over. Her motivators were the possible loss of money, poor financial planning, and desperation. Unfortunately, that lashed out in a nasty way against my friend. But, by seeing what caused the situation, hopefully my friend could realize that it wasn't about him. Reflecting on things, we both realized why she was acting the way she was, and that it wasn't personal. We could have gone on for hours, ranting and raving about her indecency. But being consistently mad is incredibly overrated.

Peaceful approach. Reflection. Hmm. There may be something to this.