Damage Control; How to Minimize Drama

Q&A Tuesday

Submitted Question

Tiger, why is it that my life tends to explode with drama?
-R. Stevens.  Boulder, Colorado

Insight

Do you ever experience negative situations that seem to exceed your expectations? For example… you give someone bad news and then two days later they walk up and just punch you in the face. Okay, maybe not that extreme but you know what I mean. Sometimes when we think all will go well, things change on a dime and end up being totally different than what was expected. Why, and how can we minimize the damage? The question that solves this equation is… what are you feeding the situation?

Granted. People are going to respond, however they choose to respond. And I think you’ll agree, that one’s initial response, is not always their true response. Meaning, how one tends to react initially, is usually based on emotion and not logic, therefore creating an experience that seems totally irrational; this may be very true for yourself as well, I know it has been for me. Knowing this is often the case, I’ve learned to allow people to respond freely at first, without giving it much emotional attention. The emotional attention you give, is what is going to feed their response over time, whether its over the next couple days, weeks, or months.

Think of it as a sort of energy field at play, and think about the energy you offer contribute to this field. When others get mad and emotional, even if your miles apart, how you choose to respond to their reaction will affect how they continue to respond. This works even if you don’t speak to them, it goes beyond words; there is still a connection you hold with this other person even though you may not be speaking, a energy relationship of sorts. So… what are you feeding the situation. Do you gather around and gossip about the situation? Do you speak negative thoughts about this other person to yourself, in your mind, or to others? Do you judge and criticize them? What kind of energy are you offering up?

Especially when you bring other people into the mix, this simply increases the energy output. So as the craving comes to call and tell everyone you know about how much of a dick this guy was, stop and think about the energy you’re offering up. If this other person doesn’t have negative energy to feed off of, from you, I guarantee you will have a different outcome. I’ve seen this play out many times in my own life, and it never fails to work according to the law.

Consciously feed the situation love, acceptance, and forgiveness, regardless of their initial reaction. And when you want to stew about it mentally, change the subject in your mind and think about any good moments you might of had with this person or in this situation.

Did you find genuine value within this post? If you did, then most likely you know someone else who will as well. I invite you to share the goodness!
Namaste -Tigmonk