I've been ruminating over how to deal with my neighbor upstairs who insists that I hear her every footstep. Pleading with her several times to lighten her steps has yielded no results; she even turned this issue around and accused me of harrassing her! The nerve of some people!
So I decided to change tactics. I realized it was futile to reason with an unreasonable person - after all, if she was going to change, she would have done so after my first plea months ago. I decided to treat this as a challenge. Each one of her annoying steps would be a test - a test for me to overcome my easily perturbed emotions. Rather than feeling the flames of anger consume me, I would welcome each step and make a conscious effort to find my inner peace.
I know, they're just footsteps; it's not like I'm living in a war zone or something. But, it's still a big deal to me. When I made this decision and the calming shower was drowning out all extraneous noise from my ears, I told myself: you know very well that you can't expect other people to change for you; all you can do is change yourself.
A second later, I realized I had heard someone say the exact same thing in the very recent past.
What wise person uttered these words? I realized a few seconds later that it was me - I had said this to my mother the day before when I offered her advice on how to deal with a difficult child (no, not me, another one - she's got plenty of them, the poor woman).
At the moment, I just laughed out loud for some reason. I don't know what it was - realizing my own wisdom or some other random reason - but it continued for a good fifteen seconds. We're always telling people that they are adept are solving others' issues, just never their own, and that they should listen to their own advice to others sometimes. I guess I finally did it.
I listened.
And I hope to hear more than footsteps.
