I was using a weed eater in our back yard. At one point--as I attempted to turn my body while backing away from the area I was cutting I tripped over a root and fell flat. Humiliated, I actually yelled at the roots for tripping me. Imagine, yelling at roots for simply being what they are. In that moment, I forgot roots don't reach out to ensnare me or trip me. They just grow in the ground to bring nutrition to the trunk and leaves of the trees.
Similarly, life does not intend to make problems for us. Life just IS, and we choose how to respond to--or proactively interact with--any element of it. This is more obvious with roots, but it's still true with people, who often appear to be doing things to us. But they're not. They're just being themselves, and on occasion we happen to get close enough to feel the effects of their choices, much as I discovered the effects of roots only as I chose to clear the ground with them all around me.
The people and things around us just ARE. It's not personal. We then have the power--the privilege, really--to choose who we shall be. Will we be irritated and miserable? Will we try to change the people and things around us, which never works in the long run? Or will we choose to be loving and happy? It really is our choice.
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