Getting along with people who think differently...

At the weekend I watched the movie “Everest” – wow! Talk about a movie so gripping that I forgot at points it was a movie – it was a 2-hour rollercoaster of emotion and I was spellbound. For me this is one sign of a great movie. Another sign: my family were still discussing it at breakfast the next morning. And some of what I discovered during and after watching the movie was quite unexpected.

I discovered, once again, how easy it is to judge when I forget that each of us live in our own unique realities and furthermore are always doing what makes the most sense to us at the time. That we are all just like characters in our own movies. Talking of unique realities, I bet someone reading this is thinking “what’s she talking about, that Everest movie was rubbish?!”.

I discovered that there was an old thought playing in my head, a belief that I’d either picked up or made up somewhere along the way, that sounded a bit like “anyone who has a family shouldn’t be doing things as dangerous as climbing a mountain from which many do not return”.

“Shouldn’t” – boom! A red flag that I’ve slipped into a made up world where everyone else thinks like me and has the same beliefs as me – and boy is this a painful world because I will be devoting a lot of time and energy to judgement and despair.

I discovered, once again, how beautiful it is to wake up to the truth and how, every time I do, my heart fills up with love and compassion for people who, just like me, are always doing what makes sense to them, and not always having the easiest experience. That it’s amazing all the different passions that people pursue, and how awesome it is to pursue something so close to your own heart. That I have no place in judging the reasons why someone is doing what they’re doing or whether it’s a good idea. That if I was that person with their thoughts, I’d be doing exactly the same thing.

I can tell you, it was a big relief to see that made up judgemental belief for what it was, like another corner of my heart was now more free to love.

More and more I appreciate movies (whether they are completely made up or as in this case a made-up portrayal of true events) as great reminders of what’s real and what’s made up for us in our human experience.