Annoying people are all around us. Bad drivers, bike thieves, litterbugs, people who don’t leave a message, people who walk through the door when you were actually handing it to them, people who leave their shopping cart in a parking space. Recently, a woman slammed into me as she jogged by – and just kept going. She merely checked her fancy runner’s watch to see if she could make up the lost time. Super annoying.
I don’t want to hate everybody. It’s not good for me or my karma – so I’ve got a new thing. It’s called, I’LL ALLOW IT.
Imagine that I’m a judge in a courtroom. It’s an exaggerated, cartoonish situation where no one takes me very seriously. When someone does something I don’t like – and it’s something beyond my control – I pound my mental gavel and shout in a bad English accent, “I’LL ALLOW IT!”
Yes, it’s silly – but it quickly takes me out of my bratty “how dare they” mentality and puts me back in (imaginary) control. If someone cuts me off in traffic, yelling “I’LL ALLOW IT” is pretty damn absurd, kind of funny – and surprisingly helpful. Instead of focusing on what is wrong/stupid/criminal, my inner judge rules the behavior to be acceptable. Of course, cutting me off is NOT truly acceptable – but the offense already happened and there isn’t much I can do about it.
Letting go was a major theme for me this year and I relied heavily on the Zen Rx, Let Go or Be Dragged. If I’m not feeling particularly Zen, I can switch to I’LL ALLOW IT! When annoying people or events are beyond your control, see if you can let go or allow it. Either way, you are building resilience – which literally means the speedy recovery from problems. Case closed.
