So I recently met up with an old friend of mine who, despite her hectic & fast paced life, looked as beautiful and fit as ever. This lady is a huge star and has been very successful. As she walked in to the restaurant, heads turned. She oozed success and happiness from every pore of her body and soul. I did not have to ask her, what her secret was because I already knew.
She is a lady who has happiness and fulfilment both in her career and personal life. She has a deep spiritual life, a husband who adores her, fans who are loyal to her, and friends in every corner of the world. There was nothing about the globe she didn’t know or understand. She could have sat back and just enjoyed her money and success but was instead, doing both: enjoying life (yes), but also putting back in to her community.
Her happiness is infectious, her heart is wonderful and I could see the waiters fussing over her because she made them feel special. She had asked each one of them how they were, she had called each by his/her name – no clicking fingers at them, because she was rightly brought up to know that we only click fingers at dogs not humans.
When the Creator made a template of how humans should behave, he made her. And yet, social media had exposed the worst kind of humans to her. She had explained to me many years back, that apparently of the 120,000+ followers she had, a few had “Liked” or “Followed” her social media pages, only so they could send her hate messages.
Of course I found the whole idea so ridiculous that I started laughing, thinking she was pulling my leg (remember this was some years back). So, I naively asked her to repeat what she had just said, because the way I had understood it was:
ME: Are you saying that some people “Like” your social pages so they can send you hate messages?
HER: Yup! [As she picked her king prawns with newly manicured nails]
ME: Why? Where do they even find the time? I mean just looking after my family and business takes so much time and energy?
HER: Miriam, that’s the thing. No one leading a fulfilled life has time for hate or trolling. Let them continue with that hate, while I promote my products and travel the world with my family. Also, these are the same people who offline, do not lead fulfilled lives. So we have to feel sorry for them. Something must be missing in their lives so they choose to vent out instead of looking inside themselves to improve their own situations.
BINGO! This lady really had a great mind. She also had no time for hate even to those who had been personally attacking her because she knew one thing. We have choices in life; we can choose love over hate. In other words, we can choose the path of hard work, focus and determination to get to the land of love and happiness or simply choose hate and remain where we are throughout our life.
So, next time someone is provoking you (online or offline), don’t react. Believe me, I know this is hard. But ignoring such people makes them feel worse. Treat them with the contempt they deserve. Live your life and be happy and soon they will be looking for someone else to react to their sad nonsense. Remember, “Misery Loves Company” so don’t give them your company. Your time is too precious. Instead, befriend happy and fulfilled people. For HAPPINESS is CONTAGIOUS! To read more posts by Miriam, click HERE
