How many difficult people do we know?? How difficult are they?? How can we handle them??

Well, because I didn’t have the answers to those questions I booked into a workshop a couple of years ago to learn more!!…what a learning curve!!!

The tutor asked us to write down all the things about people that we didn’t like, or found it difficult to deal with- fine! "Is what these people are doing illegal? immoral? dangerous? Designed to do harm? No?" she asked, "Well" she said," its just that they are DIFFERENT then"!! What an eye opener! As simple as that – just different.

So the only way to handle these differences that we don’t like is to be more tolerant, eh? Not an easy thing to do, but POSSIBLE, and that is all that matters. Tolerance is what makes the difference , and it guarantees better relationships in almost every case.

You see, if 20 people are involved in something that represents 20 different ways of looking at things - this means 20 different emotional viewpoints, and 20 different attitudes based on 20 different types of life’s experiences!! So why should we think that OUR way should be the ONLY way of dealing with things in an acceptable way???

Two people can have major differences, neither of them wrong, but just causing problems because of a lack of tolerance . I have heard people say that they have nothing in common with their husbands/wives, but an example I have used with them is that perhaps we should look at a knife and fork - nothing in common, but we all know how well they can work together when used correctly. That is just a small example to help us make a comparison.

Business partners, relatives, friends, husbands and wives can all be viewed as difficult people until we accept that the only problem is that they are different from US. Trying to accept that fact can really work wonders, if you are prepared to adjust your understanding. I know, because I have been applying it in every situation since attending that workshop!! Thank goodness I was able to attend that. I love new ideas that make a difference to the way we see things. Do you think that we can start to accept that, unless the differences are of a SERIOUS nature? Everyone has the right to their point of view, and everyone sees things differently – not right, not wrong, just different.

Maybe you haven’t thought of that before, I know I hadn’t…..sometimes we feel that it should always be our way or the highway, but maybe we should just stop and try to see things from the other person’s point of view and be prepared to give and take.

Maybe you think I am expecting perfection in relationships - NO!!! Nothing further from the truth, we are about as far away from perfection today as we could be, but I think realising that we COULD live more harmoniously if we saw things differently, might help! - We can always try, anyway!