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05 June 2009

Buddha's Wisdom Strikes Again

I get along with most everyone at my place of work, with the notable exception of two women. One, a 20-something-year veteran of the company, thinks she's a manager (she isn't). As a result, she tries to girl-bully people into doing what she thinks they should be doing. If they don't, she gets pissy and snipes at them behind their backs, while giving them a fake, sweet smile to their faces. It's gotten so bad I've nicknamed her Janus, after the two-faced Roman god.

The other woman I've mentioned here before: the mousy, insecure, passive/aggressive socially inept yotch who desperately tries to prove herself the brightest kid in class (and falls desperately short).

This past week, while DH was away, things came to a head with both of these creatures. It was so bad I had to ask two of my managers for help - which, fortunately, I received. I was still horribly torqued off, and ranted last night to my husband, getting more and more upset as I relived the wrongs done to me.

My husband, without missing a beat, turned to me and said, "What is the primary tenet of Buddhism?"

To which I automatically replied, "Resistance to what exists is the cause of all suffering."

Ding-ding-ding! Gazillion-watt lightbulb goes on!

I slap my forehead in an utter "D'oh!" moment. I was giving those yotches so much power over me that I was making myself miserable. These women are who they are, and no matter how much I protest and gnash my teeth, I cannot change them. I can only acknowledge what they are, accept their existence, and refuse to let them affect me so greatly.

Buddha was a gentle teacher. His teachings, however, sometimes require application with a clue-by-four.

Ow.

2 comments:

Carrie Lofty said...

Now I have a picture of Charlie Crews in my head. Mmmmm....

Nancy J. Parra said...

Oh, this post made me smile. I love that first tennet. It is very powerful!

As for me, writer that I am...(And you are... you have drawn these women so perfectly in your few blog descriptions) I would write them into a story as the bad guy. Use them for my own good- write their ultimate comeuppence. Then go to work and smile a secret cat smile...all the way to the publisher. ;)