Recently I have noticed how often we can go through our day unaware of our surroundings. For example, a couple weeks ago I was at the gym and two of the sinks in the women’s locker room happened to be under repair. A woman was standing in front of the only working sink drying her hair and putting on her make up. Why, I wondered, did she have to make it awkward for others to use the only available sink? Was she aware of what she was doing?
How many times have we observed similar behavior or even done it ourselves….
throwing a grocery basket haphazardly under the check out counter at the grocery store making it necessary for the next person to rearrange the entire stack before dropping off their basket;
blocking an intersection in hopes of making the light before it changes, only to keep an entire lane of cross traffic from moving;
waiting until the last minute before merging into the exit lane on the freeway then cutting in front of a mile of traffic also exiting.
The list could go on, but you get the idea. If these seem like trivial examples, then how about a challenge….What if we asked ourselves how our actions might effect others before we sent an email, cut someone off, or went screaming through the parking lot like an Indy driver?
Perhaps such a simple act would not only make the day a little easier and less frustrating for someone else, but help us improve all our relationships, including those with ourselves. Maybe someone will even return the favor.