Several months ago, I was presented with an opportunity to practice what I preach. I was working at an event for one of my clients and at one point during the day, she asked me if I wouldn’t mind bringing out some cold water for people to drink. Of course I didn’t mind at all so I went and grabbed some bottles of water and placed them in the room where several ladies were getting their make-up done. After a couple of minutes, I noticed everyone anyone had a bottle of water so I started to leave the room and take care of two people who happened to be working in another area. As I turned to leave, one of the young ladies, (who, mind you, had been extremely rude and troublesome towards several people throughout the day) very curtly says, “Um, I mean, can you at least hand me a bottle of water?”, and rolls her eyes. To make matters worse, she was sitting just inches from the bottled water.

This young lady had a strong, negative energy emitting from her and she seemed so angry. I could’ve very easily yelled at her for being so rude and disrespectful but what good would that have done? All that would’ve been accomplished was further angering her and started an unnecessary public argument, as well as succeeded in making me look unprofessional. I politely handed her some water, with a huge smile on my face and asked if there was anything else I could do for her. She very angrily said, “No!” I walked out of the room, went to a quiet area, took a few deep breaths and released the negative energy. Later on that day, I had to interact with that same young lady. I was extremely polite to her, making sure that she understood exactly what she needed to know in order to be successful at her task. I chose to help her instead of hurt her because I understood that her attitude had nothing to do with me.

Picture yourself in a crowd of people and someone bumps into you very hard. You whip around ready to curse the person out and you notice that they are blind. Once you realize that they couldn’t see you, all anger immediately dissipates because you realize that it wasn’t intentional. They just couldn’t see you. It’s the same thing with people who treat you badly. They are blind. Forgive them and don’t allow yourself to be angered by their actions; never take it personally.

Nobody has the power to ruin your day unless you give it to them. When faced with negativity, kill it with positivity. Humble yourself knowing that none of us is any more important than the other. You never know how much your kindness can positively affect another person’s life.

Sending you love in abundance,

Stephanie