Take It Easy

The first days of 2012 have been pretty uneventful for me. There’s been none of the immediate gratifying change I was hoping for. (I take that back, there’s definitely less clutter on my kitchen counters!) In fact, all this week I have felt sore, sick, tired and crabby. What a bummer. But I suppose that’s just the universe reminding me to take it easy on myself.

We do tend to be extra hard on ourselves, don’t we? I wonder why that is. Earlier this week I was told that the expectations I have for others and myself are generally too high. I’ve been told that before and I kind of get it but I don’t know how to change that. My biggest personal philosophy is to treat others the way I want to be treated but I often feel frustrated and disappointed when that doesn’t produce the desired results. It was suggested to me that perhaps I should treat others the way they  want to be treated instead but I’m not exactly sure what that means. Doesn’t everyone want to be treated with kindness and compassion, to receive friendly customer service and feel liked? And if not, why not?

As the title of this blog implies, I believe that if you are a nice person and you follow rules and treat people with respect, things will fall into place and you will reap the benefits. However, the world doesn’t always work that way and it upsets me because it seems like a straightforward concept. I know that by age 33 I should be able to deal with this better but there are still times when I struggle. It’s a good thing we are only five days into the New Year because already I am rethinking my resolutions.

Another thing that I believe strongly is that if the universe is trying to teach us something, that lesson will be presented over and over until we finally catch on. I have seen that happen in my life many times. I think I may be in the middle of one of those lessons right now, I’m just still trying to figure out exactly what it is.