Good Advice

[Heather Morinelli]

HI Everyone, I hope your day has been good.
Here is another "pearl" I've stumbled across.

"Sweet it is, most sweet of all
to be meek and gentle.
When a man abuses me,
Why should I insult him?
Will his fury ever cease
If I return his curse?
His anger carries him away,
And I respond in kind.
Till through his ferocity
I am brought low.
In the hour of passionate rage,
I shall hold my peace
The madness will cool and pass away,
if I let it end with me.
Afterwards, by the peace and sweetness
Do I strike the unjust one,
And am better heard by him
Than if I had struck back in wrath."
--Elder Athanasius of Gregoriou (+1953)

Holding my peace is something that I struggle with a great deal---especially at my work, where I'm constantly being blamed and yelled at by customers for problems that I have no control over....I can literally feel my blood pressure sky rocket sometimes...but I'm slowly learning (and I'm not very good at this) that by just asking forgiveness for my mistake, then fixing whatever was wrong...then usually things end on a much more pleasant note.

With much love...heather

[Andonis]

thats very clever Heather.
i find i have to do the same thing. i'm in middle management which means i have to enforce decisions made above me without my consultation, nor my staff's, to those below me. what ends up happening is that my staff become angry at me because they are not happy to institute changes they do not endorse, and those above also get angry at me if what they want is not implemented to their satisfaction. provides for some good training in humiity at least...

[Heather Morinelli]

Andonis---
I wish I was better at doing what I posted. It's almost always my first inclination to point my finger at someone else...But my job title is Senior technician...which is a nice way to say that I'm the cleaner uper of mistakes made mostly by other people, so that the pharmacist doesn't have to spend all his time fixing problems. What's even harder I think, is that when I find that I've pleased a patient, I get all puffed up in the head. I almost have to physically fight with myself to not go and point out what I did to my supervisor...to receive some praise from him.
The other thing that I struggle with, probably to an even greater extent...is gossip. From the time I walk through those doors to work I'm surrounded by it. And my ears have a radar for it...It is extremely difficult to keep myself from it...I can sense it a mile away...I'm ashamed to say, I can detect a big piece of gossip from across the room, but any good advice that comes my way my ears revolt against.. and is forgotten almost as soon as I hear it.
I have so much to work on.....