Johanna and I have been writing again this week. Last time, as my faithful readers may recall, I owned the keyboard, and Johanna watched over my shoulder. She noticed all my little typing quirks, like backing up to fix typos. She really hated that one.
This week, Johanna owned the keyboard and I got to see how she types. And guess what? She backs up to fix typos, too. The only difference is it doesn’t annoy her when she does it.
We had a pretty good laugh over this.
And it reminds me: When I find a trait in another person particularly irritating, I often have some of that same trait myself.
Sometimes I can ask myself, “What is it about me that I find so irritating in Mr. X?” There may be a similarity that represents a part of myself I don’t particularly like.
Sometimes I can reframe the irritating trait and allow a more neutral response, one that opens up more possibilities.
