When sharing avocados with a porcupine...
Every Friday, I bring donuts to work. I like sharing my sweets with co-workers, but I also share healthy stuff like bananas, apples, and even avocados. I’ve actually formed a small avocado club. I bring avocados for at least 4 people. Unfortunately, one of the avocado recipients can often be a grump. Regardless, I try to hoist people from the weight of their work. I don't discriminate based on personality.
On one particular Friday, however, I was not inspired to give an avocado to the "difficult" recipient. I was tempted to give the smallest, and less ripe of the bunch. But instead, I gave this person my best avocado.
I’ve read that the people who we like the least, or whose personalities challenge us the most, are the ones whose stories we don’t know. I remind myself of this often, especially when I'm at work. I've actually armed myself with the book, How to Hug a Porcupine. In fact, I keep it in my office drawer.
There are plenty of porcupines out there. And, realistically, we can’t have a sit-down with every single one of them, in order to “understand them better”. But we can remind ourselves that we are all part of the same human fabric. We’re all fragmented patches on the quilt of life. And although these porcupines might sit on a patch that's at the complete opposite side of our quilt, love is what stitches us together.
So perhaps, instead of reacting to our nemesis' negative energy or allowing them to vacuum us into their sunken, dark clouds, perhaps we can offer them a friendly avocado. Visualize this nearness, imagine putting an avocado in between you and the porcupine in your life. This would literally make for holy guacamole.
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