if I choose to look at being connected to all (as part of Oneness) then I am connected to that clerk... so I choose to think that maybe she found out, on her way to work, that her best friend had a miscarriage.. or that her dad was just diagnosed with leukemia.... or her family dog had passed away, or that her son was playing a part in the school play and she was missing it bc she was forced to work a minimum wage job just to put food on the table. (all of the things have happened to ppl I know).

Yes, it is hard to shine when our outlook is dim. And yes, there will be days when bad things happen as Kristi mentions that will cause our days to be dim. I acknowledge that for some people this is their norm and they are a beating to be around. But in these moments when our friends and strangers outlooks are dim and they are having a tough time and everything about them is exuding negativety we have a choice.

A choice to condemn them for their bad behaviour or a choice to extend to them some grace. Love breeds love. Kindness breeds kindness. You get what you give.

I don't know how much good you can actually do in a check out line but surely there is something one can do for another in any situation. It's not always easy to know how to communicate with the other person - especially if they are a stranger- but I believe that there is something we can do. We just need to learn how to recognize those moments and be able to communicate kindness. Even when the other person doesn't deserve it at the moment.

And, I'm rambling. Happy Wednesday.

And then...I have to think why is it so easy to see the dim bulbs...shouldn't it be the ones that shine that draw the most attention?

I am the person who would go and speak with the supervisor or email the store to tell them what I saw. Not because I want to get the clerk in trouble, but because as a supervisor, I would want to know if my customers were being treated in that way or if I had an employee who was maybe going through something that caused such an outburst.

I'm listening to the Art of Love today at Lovesummit.com. Deepak Chopra is the speaker today.

Some of the points that I like are:

-We all have positive and negative traits but we try to be positive all the time and try to be on our best behavior and we don't accept our negative traits we lose our innocence. That innocence that we have as a child that naturally loves.

-One person has the power of changing their relationship if they can give up the power of having to be right and listen and notice something good about the other person and no matter whom the other person is there is something good about them.

-All of our minds are entangled. All of our conversations expand exponentially because when I talk to you via the internet (and social networks have really opened this up even more), you share it with people in your life and they share it with people int he their life and so on back on to our conversation of oneness. We are all one.

-I am because you are.

And not from Deepak but we all need and want grace when we mess up but it's not easy to extend grace when someone else messes up. We're human. We're all positive and negative. :)

@ Cheryl