It takes all sorts to make a world.....a great tool for retaining your equanimity and developing tolerance, patience and understanding towards those different to yourself......I work in a multicultural environment, in a foreign country, and this advice has been so indispensable in helping me understand and work with so many different characters, some good and not so good..... 😁 Many thanks
In A Handook for New Stoics, the examples focus on random people during work interactions. In retirement, I find this advice also especially helpful in dealing with a brother-in-law who is also retired with too much time to follow his echo chamber of media down rabbit holes of doom and gloom. When my spouse and I see he has texted to his siblings another rant blaming people like us for the horrible world he feels he lives in, the Stoic response (and no reply) seems to help. Sometimes his sister will post a picture of a beautiful sunset in response or they will redirect the conversation to happy childhood recollections. Brother-in-law is actually quite a nice fellow when not in his rant mode.
This was a lesson I had to re-explore when I began working the blue-collared job I'm currently at. There were many interesting characters, some who didn't quite have the best grasp on their actions, but still I had to work with them. I've learned, after some lapses of irritation, to better understand the depth of their character while focusing less so on their behavior and more so on my association to their behavior. This was a good read.
It takes all sorts to make a world.....a great tool for retaining your equanimity and developing tolerance, patience and understanding towards those different to yourself......I work in a multicultural environment, in a foreign country, and this advice has been so indispensable in helping me understand and work with so many different characters, some good and not so good..... 😁 Many thanks
In A Handook for New Stoics, the examples focus on random people during work interactions. In retirement, I find this advice also especially helpful in dealing with a brother-in-law who is also retired with too much time to follow his echo chamber of media down rabbit holes of doom and gloom. When my spouse and I see he has texted to his siblings another rant blaming people like us for the horrible world he feels he lives in, the Stoic response (and no reply) seems to help. Sometimes his sister will post a picture of a beautiful sunset in response or they will redirect the conversation to happy childhood recollections. Brother-in-law is actually quite a nice fellow when not in his rant mode.
Lori, yup, that seems exactly the right way to do it!
This was a lesson I had to re-explore when I began working the blue-collared job I'm currently at. There were many interesting characters, some who didn't quite have the best grasp on their actions, but still I had to work with them. I've learned, after some lapses of irritation, to better understand the depth of their character while focusing less so on their behavior and more so on my association to their behavior. This was a good read.
Ibra, congratulations on your progress!