When in Rome…

When in Rome, What Will You Do? 

Good morning, folks! I am Jin with Morning Mindfulness Podcast. Hope you are having a magnificent day. Let’s breathe and smile.

I am sure most of you have heard a saying, “When in Rome, Do as Romans Do.” In Russian we have a saying, when living with wolves, howl like one. It basically means the same: blend in with traditions of the place where you live.

But have you thought about the flip side of this famous statement? Yin and Yan, so to speak. I think it will sound something like this, “When you are dealing with idiots, don’t act like one. Because those who’re watching won’t know the difference.” I think it was George Bernard Shaw who said, “Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, and pig loves it.”

I often have to remind myself about this quote. Our daily life is full of surprises, and not all of them are pleasant. Even though I usually don’t get in verbal fights with other people, I’ve been mistreated. And it is not necessarily about somebody being aggressive to me or taking advantage. It may be something very small, like ignoring my messages and emails, or saying something negative, gossiping about me.

It’s really funny, the first reaction is something like, I’m going to get you. You’ll see. Then common sense comes back, and I think, what am I doing? Whatever other people are doing can only describe them, not me. Whenever somebody’s acting like an idiot, it’s only about them. And obviously God loves idiots because He’s making a lot of them. But how I respond to that will describe me, not them.

Think about that, my friend. Next time somebody’s not treating you nicely, be nice. Be above their level, and I am sure you are.

These is a link to a book I recommend:

The Power of Nice by Linda Kaplan Thaler 

You can get FREE Audio version of this book (details on Amazon site)

Thanks for stopping by. I will talk to you next time.

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PEACE!
Jin

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