You never know when you’re going to cross paths with someone again, and in what capacity.
That guy you’re an -hole to in the parking lot at the grocery store, just may be the guy in charge of your next tax audit or cooking your next hamburger.
Or the lady you’re super cool to, and let cut in line in front of you in line at the bank may be a customer service rep you’ll soon be dealing with somewhere who can make your life a whole lot easier.
Maybe they’ll be an important future business connection.
Or maybe, just maybe, they’re YOU walking around in another flesh-suit. We’ll get to that in just a minute.
Understand this, like attracts like.
It’s funny how the asshole finds all the assholes, and the cool, helpful, giving people find other cool, helpful, giving people.
Successful people attract other successful people.
Losers attract losers.
Haters attract haters.
Takers attract takers.
And givers attract givers.
Other people.
A lot of em’ are great.
And some of them will try to suck the very life right out of ya. But most are somewhere in the middle.
The key is to remember that we’re all in this thing together.
One time I was getting some breakfast at the local bagel shop and the line got kinda messy—it was hard to tell who was next.
I was in a hurry, felt that everything revolved around self-important me, and thought I was next, then this older gentleman started walking up to the counter, kinda cutting in front of me.
I called him out on it and was basically a total dick to the guy. He turned around and said in a calm, cool, and collective manner “Hey we’re all in this thing together man.” He was right.
He pointed straight to the bigger truth of the situation.
I’m not saying let people walk all over you but we are all in this thing together, and the cooler you are to everyone else, the cooler they’re gonna be to you.
How you treat others is how you treat yourself.
Those things that usually piss you off about someone else are just parts of yourself that you’re not willing to look at or deal with it. It’s easier to look over there, and say “Hey, that guy’s an asshole.”
And he very well may be an asshole. But if he’s getting to you, then it’s time to take a serious look at yourself and realize that maybe whatever it is he’s doing that’s getting to you is something you do as well—at least on some level—but aren’t conscious of…or are conscious of and haven’t accepted, addressed or dealt with it properly yet.
Maybe he’s just a mirror trying to get you to pay attention to your own thoughts, actions and behaviors.
Maybe he’s an asshole cuz’ you’re one too, and that’s what you’re attracting—assholes.
The more we can look at other people this way, as reflections of ourselves, the more of an authentic life we can live.
The cooler we are to other people, the cooler they are to us.
Want people to be nice to you?
Be nice to them.
Want life to help you out?
Help other people out.
Want people to be more honest with you?
Be more honest with THEM.
want to be heard?
Listen
Want awesome people in your life?
BE an awesome person yourself.
Want to get what you want in life?
Help others get what THEY want.
For what you do to others, is what you do to yourself.
Sure, some people are better off avoiding all together. (I’ve BEEN that person to avoid many times myself BTW.)
But sometimes the biggest jerks, energy drainers and complainers are people in our lives that we can’t totally avoid—like family members. In this case, it’s best to just be as cool to them as possible to them, live your own life in such a way as to where they’re not able to drag you down, and be an example…it might just be contagious…or maybe it won’t be, but it’s worth being an example anyway.
People are what makes life worth living…but they can also make it a living hell.
Surround yourself with people who lift you up, and lift them up as well.
Treat others like you want them to treat you—treat them like they’re “you” in a different flesh suit.
Help others get what they want and you’ll get what you want.
We all know this stuff—Grandma told it to us a thousand times before we were even 5—but it’s so easy to forget, and sometimes so hard to live.
I wrote this post mostly to remind myself of how I want to behave and think, but if it reminds you too—even just a little—all the better.
We can never be reminded enough.
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