“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned” -Buddha

I thought of this, one of my favourite proverbs, as I observed a brief exchange this morning. In the pouring rain, a woman stood under a bus shelter and dropped her umbrella. She didn’t notice. A man who saw this happen took the initiative to pick up the umbrella and give it back to the woman. She looked right through him, so intently avoiding eye contact that it seemed she did not see him standing there at all. “Are you OK?” he asked. No response. Another woman intervened: “are you alright?” “YES!” the woman snapped, “but why is THAT *derogatory racist word* man speaking to me?”

“He was giving back your umbrella.”

After gathering stares from repulsed and mortified onlookers, the dazed woman grabbed her umbrella and walked into the rain without uttering a word of thanks. The man found himself surrounded by strangers who patted him on the back and wished him a good day. I’m sure he earned more than one prayer for good luck.

The universe always listens.

Helen Keller wrote: “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” Today, I once again witnessed the profound truth in this statement. When we are so blinded by our cynicism, racism, and anger, who suffers? The whole world feels the vibration of that kind of hatred, but the one dishing it out feels it rot the core of his/her soul most.

That’s the way it works.

If we choose to love, forgive, trust, and be kind, we will find the world increasingly filled with wonder. If we choose to hate, to be angry, to hold a grudge, and to be unkind, we will be so blinded by our self-imposed misery that we will never see the wonder, even if it’s right underneath our noses.

What we find in our lives is a mirror reflection of what we’ve put out into our world. There is no escaping this.

Choose to have vision. You will see that there is plenty of luck on your side.

And remember… we design our own luck!

M.