One Apple A Day #621 - confrontations
For the second time this week, my morning card talks about confrontations.
How do you deal with confrontations?
Honestly, I don't like them.
Too often they trigger in me the desire to come out as the winner, to prove I'm right, no matter the topic. As a result, I tend to run from confrontations. Sometimes I use humour and laugh to distract everyone. Other times I just ignore it, and I walk away. A few times, I jump into the confrontation to solve it as soon as possible. Not even to solve it, the real goal is to leave it behind in a way or another.
Yet, I know there is a tremendous potential in a confrontation. When different perspectives collide, and the pressure from all side opens up new cracks on the surface of things.
So, I'm learning to stay.
Just stay, at the edges of it. Within and without the confrontation at the same time. Observing how it evolves, listening to the sound of the cracks opening, feeling the itching on my own wounds awakening. It's not easy.
Sometimes I fail beautifully only to realise later that I've missed an opportunity.
But when I do, when I stay with the confrontation, then the harvest is extraordinary.
A significant help comes from reminding myself of my vision and my values. Or the shared vision and standards of the group I'm with. It helps reconcile any tension with something higher, and it gives me the strength to hold it all.
How do you deal with confrontations?