Serenity

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. ~ Reinhold Niebuhr

It has been an “interesting” week. One of those weeks in which some people’s behaviour has resulted in me feeling annoyed; upset; perplexed; and a few other negative feelings.

“Interesting” is one of those words that seems to mean so many things these days. The word interesting is actually defined as follows: “Arousing or holding the attention” and synonyms for the word are:

absorbing, arresting, consuming, engaging, engrossing, enthralling, fascinating, gripping, immersing, intriguing, involving, riveting.

And that’s part of the problem, the meaning that we put on the words we use or hear. This week hasn’t been interesting at all; it has been darn well frustrating, this definition being:

“To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire or to cause feelings of discouragement or bafflement …”

However, I recognise that I have a choice as to how I respond to these frustrations. I could choose to rant and rave and therefore probably cause myself more “frustration” as well as alienate others. Or I can see these communication “glitches” as an opportunity to reflect on the way I see the world, on the way in which I hear things based on my own view of what is important to me.

Definition of “glitch”:

“A minor malfunction; mishap; or technical problem; a snag”. Or as John Glenn first defined in 1962: “Literally, a glitch is a spike or change in voltage in an electrical current.” And in electronics:  “a sudden instance of malfunctioning or irregularity….”

So the words that we use and that we hear within our own wavelength of understanding and context might well mean different things to us as we hear them and to others as they receive them especially within the diverse cultures in which many of us work and live, as well as what’s happening around us, causing a few personal malfunctions or irregularities in the way we see, hear and/or feel something thereby influencing our behaviour.

Note to self: Enjoy the journey.

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Thank you, Sue Knight: