Sucked into an ego vortex

March 31, 2017 12:53 PM

When you interact with a friend’s baby and it suddenly starts crying, you don’t take it personally.

You don’t get all defensive and suspicious and cynical, ruminating to yourself, man, that baby is out to get me. Little punk doesn’t know who he’s dealing with.

Instead, you simply look for the benevolent, human explanations for that child’s behavior.

Aww, he must be hungry or cold or tired or restless or wants his mommy or needs to poop.

Meanwhile, when we interact with another adult and they suddenly start acting in a way that’s surprising or bizarre, all of our patience, kindness and humility go out the window.

We forget the fact that everybody we meet is carrying a heavy burden. We forget the fact that we never know what’s going on in people’s lives when we encounter them.

And so, we plunge headfirst into the ego vortex, projecting our own autobiography onto the situation. Now that’s really precious.

A smarter move is to flex the muscle of wonderment. To look at that person lovingly and think, wow:

I wonder what transitions they might they be facing right now? I wonder what emotional continuum might they be negotiating today?

Questions like these are the adult version of having a poopy diaper. And they can help us meet more and more of our interactions with kindness and understanding.

Nobody is trying to ruin you. Stop looking solely through the narrow keyhole of your own personal existence.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Are people truly out to get you, or are they just tired, hungry and restless?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For the list called, “99 Ways to Think Like an Entrepreneur, Even If You Aren’t One,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

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Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com