Single Blog

#MindfulMonday –

Here we are wrapping up November and no matter who you voted for in the election, one thing I will ask you to be mindful of is how you treat others and how you allow others to treat you.

There seems to be an outpouring of people ranting hateful messages not only on social media, also on airplanes and other public places. This has caused concern for many of us.

I’m concerned about several things:

• There is so much pain and anger within sooo many people and it seems the only way they know how to deal is being vulgar, violent, crude and rude. If you are someone in that situation, be willing to get some help, your actions are causing many people of all ages, races, cultures and religions to be fearful – and no one deserves to live in fear – especially in the US.

• The lack of being responsible for our behavior / actions / comments is monumental. As someone who was brought up to show up on time, be prepared and accountable, I realize that many, probably the majority, of people did not have that example in their lives and so I try not to judge them, I do my best to be of help to them in some way.

• There is so much hate showing up everywhere – why? I honestly don’t understand why people can have and hold on to hate about other people’s religions – this country was founded on the basis of religious freedom – and all religions believe in a higher being whether it is called Great Spirit, God, Allah, Creator or other names; what gives you the right to be harmful to them in actions or in verbal abuse? How would you react if the situation were reversed or if it is your child, mother, brother or friend?

The hate for our political candidates, law enforcement or other leaders is confusing to me. Rest assured that I certainly have my preferences when it comes to political candidates, but there is no way I can “hate” the one that I don’t like. Our law enforcement always do the best that they can – walk a day in their shoes and you might change your mind. In our leadership organization we are required to do a ride-along with a law enforcement officer in our county, it is pretty eye opening. The decisions they have to make in a split-second and be totally accountable for it is probably not something you would want to experience from their point of view.

• There is not a single one of us who have not experienced bad times, no matter what that looks like from your perspective, but remember, just because you’ve had a bad experience, someone treated you badly, you don’t have to take it out on everyone around you. When I see this happen, I wonder what they are like in their own home and with their family – are they an abuser? They already exhibit the signs of an abuser and more than likely are abusing their children and spouse. I volunteer with our domestic violence center and to hear the stories of the survivors each week is so sad and reminds me of the pain and suffering in so many people.I’m over the vulgarity I see on social media – calling people very crude, degrading names speaks volumes about who they really are and what values they hold dear. Some people have made crude comments on some of my posts and I call them out and ask them not to be so crude and vulgar only to receive more of the same, I wonder if they would speak that way to me if we were in person?

Remember, one of the statements in our constitution says, “All men (humans) are created equal.” So don’t consider yourself better than me or anyone else (I don’t), we just come from different backgrounds. Give kindness a try, pause to find peace within and be kind to you first, it will then be easier to be kind to others.

One of the things I’ve learned from spiritual leaders is that there is either Fear or Love. Fear is the cause of hate and can be changed by Love and if you have a challenge feeling love for others, then do your best to be kind.

I hope this makes some sort of sense as these things have been weighing heavy on my heart and I just had to express my thoughts without tearing anyone down. At least I hope I did.

Also, I didn’t make a #MindfulMonday video today as there is a lot of noise going on outside my window as well as I found it easier to write this than try to put it into a video.

If you’ve not seen my #MindfulMonday videos, check them out on my Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/MargaretMartin.SpeakerCoach  or YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/MargaretMartinFL .

Wishing you a good week ahead – Namaste’

© 2016 Margaret Martin