Looking for Love
Filled with dread, I made my way to the local cable office. My sense of foreboding came from knowing exactly what I’d find there: technological malfunction, disgruntled customers, and apathetic customer service representatives. Upon my arrival, I was not disappointed. I opened the door to an argument in progress where all the expected elements were playing out their part to perfection. The technology failed epically. The disgruntled customer was smarmy, agitated and aggressive. The customer service representative was indifferent and annoyed. I proudly patted myself on the back because I had correctly predicted the dysfunction around me, even though the entire scene made me uncomfortable. I felt “good” about the “bad” because I was “right”, but was I?
Because I had an expectation based on my prediction and I wanted to be right, I actively looked for evidence that would support my theory. Sure enough, I found it, but is that all that was going on? Because of my narrow point-of-view, I missed another conversation in the same room where a different customer and representative were having a calm, rational, and downright civilized discussion about how a problem might be fixed. I also missed the person who stepped out of line to try to help another customer who was experiencing a problem they had previously experienced. Because I was busy trying to see my terrible prophecy fulfilled, I missed the other, more important things that were happening. I missed the respectful discourse, the community, and most importantly, the love.
You could say that I just saw what I wanted to see, but the truth is, I saw what I believed I would see. Out of all the interactions that were happening in the cable office at the time, I picked out the bit of reality I was expecting and ignored the rest, even though the beauty of the complete picture far out-shined my dreadful image.
In the chaos of our day-to-day lives, like the chaos of the cable office, we notice what we believe. Seeing what we believe is the basis of our personal truth and our personal truth is the foundation that we build our lives upon. The good news here is that our beliefs are subject to our choice. If we can choose what we believe in and subsequently experience that belief, doesn’t it behoove us to believe in the greatest good we can imagine so we can actually SEE it?
Love is considered by many to be the “greatest good” that we can experience, so why not endeavor to see more of it? What is the greatest idea of love you can imagine? How powerful is that idea? How complete? How attainable? Once you answer that question, believe in your vision and look for it to be proven in every corner of your life. Every time you see it, remember to pat yourself on the back.