Two experiences in the past year have been great reminders of how I can allow things I have no control over to impact my thoughts, health and energy. We have all experienced large company customer service (a true misnomer). For me it was two separate occasions with phone companies. I won’t mention their names because the lack of true customer service is apparently not limited to these two (go to Google and type in “I hate (pick a company)” and you will see what I mean.) It does make me wonder what would happen if senior executives multi-million dollar bonuses were based on evaluation of their commitment to customer service rather than their stock play. However, that is a subject for someone else’s blog.
The last event forced me to ponder my inability to control my thoughts, behaviors and energy when faced with six calls to six separate 800 numbers, seven different people in three different states (and maybe two countries) and then having the one who could help me drop the call with no way to get back to him. I went ballistic…several times. Embarrassing, screaming of obscenities, testing the durability of plastic phones when being slammed into their base, scaring the dogs and Cathy… Of course, we all know that served no one, most of all me. Most importantly, I didn’t walk my talk.
We are in total control of our thoughts. To live a healthy, vibrant, passionate, purpose driven life, our job number one is to hold our own energy by controlling our own thoughts – no matter what. I re-learned the cost of not paying attention to this.
My physical health was affected. The adrenaline overload made me tired, drained and a little ill for two days. My relationship was impacted – Cathy had to listen to my colorful, high volume tirades; worry about my health and hold her own energy field at the same time. And, I certainly didn’t use intentional, attraction energy to influence the near field person on the phone who claimed they wanted to help.
We do not have control over large, monolithic organizations or anyone else we interact with daily. The only thing we have control over is how our thoughts about them impact our own personal energy.
What can we do to be more energetically effective in situations like this?
Set our intention: Would the result of all these conversations been different if before the call I had set my intention to stay calm no matter what the service person said or did? Would the service have been different if I had expected and trusted that they would take care of me? Certainly, I would have been more present and effective in my own communication with them. And, whatever happened on the call would not have negatively impacted my energy, my health or capacity to think effectively.
Delegate: If we know an activity is going to drain our energy, then delegate it to someone who will be energized by it. Rather than test my dedication to walking my talk, I now delegate to our assistant, Kim, all conversations with monolithic corporate service departments. Her only attachment is to making it happen and she remains calm throughout the process.
Gary Hawk
