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Watching reactions among people can be a helpful way to gain more awareness and insight into how we ourselves might tend to react…others being a bit like mirrors or reflections of how we act or react.
As a fellow blogger commented…
getting more awareness of how…
“TO be or NOT to be”
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This alert awareness, and ability to step back, can be a powerful strategy for learning positive strategies and qualities…to observe, reflect, learn and model positive traits or qualities that one sees or admires in others…
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I heard an interesting suggestion a few days ago…to use this type of stepping back and observing to become more aware of “less positive” or perhaps “negative” patterns we may use, but aren’t as aware of. It’s sometimes much easier to see negative patterns in others than in ourselves… using those “observations” as a mirror to gain more insight and awareness into our own patterns…. leading to letting go of less helpful patterns and replacing them with more positives.
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Obviously, few people want to be around or involved in negative interactions
but once the interactions are over,
rather than just being irritated or unhappy about them,
(which tends to be my reaction)
to reflect and use that reflection as an opportunity to learn,
to learn from those observations,
not only how to avoid or resolve such conflicts,
but, equally helpful, to also use this “opportunity”…
to recognize how one might, sometimes, react in a similar manner,
a manner that may not be in one’s own best interest,
or the best interest of others…
It can be quite difficult to “see” our own interactions,
but much easier to see similar traits or patterns in others,
and to learn from those,
to learn to go more toward positives
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And so…to learn from watching others
and to recognize and model positive patterns and increase those,
and to recognize potentially negative patterns and learn to avoid those,
and in one’s mind…to say
“thank you for showing me what that looks like”
and…hopefully learning from it…
“thank you for teaching me an important lesson”
…possibly ambitious…
…but possible…
how
“TO be or NOT to be”
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“thank you for showing me what that looks like…….”
a potentially helpful learning tool
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Note: this might seem like a strange or unusual strategy…to, at times, thank people, in one’s mind, for their unpleasant reactions…. but I think it’s a potentially powerful learning tool…using others as “teachers.” I recommend starting with small reactions, not big ones. : ) It really can help one step back from one’s own reaction and to potentially transform that unpleasantness into a positive for one’s own learning.
Pocket Perspectives 
A true friend is one who can lovingly hold up a mirror to us to help us grow in wisdom as we gain perspective on our own reactions, often from deep in our subconcious!
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yes… learning to gain perspective and wisdom….sometimes, it’s so hard to see what we do…at least it is for me…
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Everyone we meet can be a “teacher” . . . and we can thank them, in our minds, for showing us how “to be or not to be.”
Good thoughts, Kathy.
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Thanks Nancy…I felt a bit hesitant about sharing this idea, which might seem odd to others, but I’m finding it helpful, so figured I’d take a change. I was just adding more ideas to this post, as you left a comment… trying to explain it more effectively. Sometimes I find it hard to explain ideas that are on the image pages.
Ah yes, so true…so many unanticipated “teachers” in our lives!
I think I could probably just use your phrase…showing us “how to be or not to be”…that sums it up perfectly …9 words say it all. 😀
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I don’t find it odd at all . . . the trait that marks me as “a writer” is that I’m always watching, observing, weighing, and comparing.
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That’s interesting…writers: watching, observing, weighing and comparing… food for thought there.
And off topic here… Do you suppose Tigger might like a cardboard castle? 😀 …ah,the inspiration and power of love…. http://www.wimp.com/cardboardcastle/ ….I sent this link north for Starbuck, too… oh, how we do love our pets!
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Be it ever so humble . . . there’s no place like a Cardboard Cat Castle! Definitely the Cat’s MEOW!!!
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Nice article to be shared. I would like to say this is really awesome and appreciable.
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Life is a mirror what we have inside of ourselves gets reflected back to us through our life experiences so says, Deepak Chopra. Thanks for sharing give me more to ponder about….
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Yes, it gives me lots to ponder about too…that mirror can “reflect” some surprises…thankfully positive ones too! : )
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