Light One Candle

Sometimes, when I'm working through a difficult situation at the office, I get frustrated that the person I'm working with just doesn't get it. It might be their lack of time, or their lack of interest or knowledge, but I become convinced that if only I were working with a more capable person, we could reach a solution more quickly.

Wayne Dyer once sarcastically asked an audience to round up all the people who were making them miserable, bring them to him so he could give those people therapy, and then the audience would be better. The point is: Why should we let our happiness depend on the capacity of others to treat us well?

It certainly is nice working with good people, but we don't always have that choice. It's up to us to decide how we want to react when our options are limited.

Gandhi had said, "It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness." Sometimes it gets dark at the office. I have to remember to light a candle instead of cursing that darkness.

For commuters in their cars, the darkness might be rush-hour traffic. Gandhi's quote then becomes: "It is better to remove one car than to curse the traffic."