Within two hours of writing that post I passed something on, which I considered to be rather considerate. In return I got something akin to a lecture about the concerns of sharing what I did. There was no thank-you for the action, just what could be perceived as criticism.
As the communication started, I had full awareness that this was the perfect opportunity! I was aware that an initial reaction of frustration was welling up. I took a deep breath, and listened for the loving message. The concerns were valid, and the love was found in the very fact of the concerns being expressed--if there weren't caring, there would be no need for the expression of concern. Where in the past I might have gotten very frustrated by the conversation, I listened for the love, and ended up fairly neutral. This was a success.
The next opportunity came that evening. I was driving Josh and myself home after dark. I was about to turn left onto our street, and there was a car waiting at the stop sign there; I was going to be turning in front of them. As I started the turn, they starting into the intersection! I quickly steered away from them, toward the curb, to give them as much room as possible to stop. I was sure that there would be impact, and there wasn't. I sat for a moment and took a breath, then continued on down the road.
It's a bit harder to find the loving message in this "communication." The easy way out would be to look at the fact that they didn't hit me, and that's too easy--I would want to be able to find the loving message even if they had. My tactic, then, is to simply let go of the judgment about what happened: instead of thinking they are a dumb $@#$% for not looking where they're going, I just let that thought go. I have no idea what was going on in the person's head: maybe they were rushing somewhere in an emergency, or to someone they love. Or, perhaps they simply weren't paying attention. It doesn't matter to me. I chose to simply take a breath and let it go. As a result, I had a peaceful time getting ready for bed (while the adrenaline dump subsided), and falling right to sleep.
As if to test my resolve, the near-identical thing happened the next day: I was turning left in front of someone at a stop sign, and they nearly drove into me again! It wasn't quite as close a call as the previous night, and I wondered what I was doing that was attracting this. I'm still working on that one.
The results, so far, from my thought experiment are very good. I continue to incorporate the process into my life. I'll give more updates as I believe they are pertinent/interesting.
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