They owe you nothing!

And still after all this time, the sun doesn't say to the earth , "You owe me."  And look what happens with a love like that. It lights up the whole sky.
Hafiz (12th century Persian poet)  My bad...somehow forgot to supply his name until now.  Oops!

One of the greatest sources of our suffering may lie in the belief that other people owe us something.

 We may assume that others owe us respect, consideration, kindness, compassion, and understanding.  When we do not get it from them or at least perceive we are not getting it from them, we get angry or hurt, blaming them for not providing.   It is our expectation that is the problem, not other people's behaviour.

Truth is...no one owes us anything. It would be nice if they provided such things.  It would make the world a better place if we all treated each other kindly but kindness is a gift not an obligation.

When we expect, we often fail to appreciate.  When we expect that we are owed something, we often blame, judge, condemn and attack when we do not get it.  Hmmm! How loving are we then?

What if we were to walk into each  relationship expecting nothing and made it a point to appreciate and honor each bit of respect, consideration, kindness, compassion and understanding that is offered us.  What if we made it a point to focus more on providing these things than receiving them?  What would that do for our relations with other people, I wonder.  What would that do for the world?

Food for thought on this windy day in May.

(Ummm...you do know I have another mini series going on here, eh? It looks like I may be talking about relating to others for a while.  Fasten your seatbelts...it might be a long ride lol.)

All is well in my world.