People are Inspiring… Even Jerks

Sometimes when it seems I am mainly seeing the worst of people… I just need to change my perspective. People really are inspiring. I recently heard a speaker say, “Everyone has a story that if you knew it, it would break your heart or bring you to your knees.” When I look at someone, I have no idea what their story is. But all of us as humans have the ability (with some it seems to take much more “uncovering” to unearth this ability) to say, “That was definitely what I did not want/ do not want. So what do I want instead? And what steps can I take to start leading me there? What thoughts can I think to support myself in how I want to be?”

If I see someone who is acting like a real jerk, I sometimes think, “What is their story?” Maybe that is just how they are acting because they have put up so many walls to “protect” themselves from further pain or alienation; or maybe they are doing what they feel they can do to stay in control and never again get in a situation where they felt they had no control of things. Most people are just moving through life while trying to prevent things that hurt from happening again. Just the fact that some people are still continuing on and have not checked out from what has happened to them could be extremely inspiring, if their story was known.

I am not saying I want to go around and try to dig up people’s past and extremely personal stories, (some stories that may be buried so deeply that the person has put them out of their consciousness) but just knowing that everyone has a story leads me to have more compassion on people. When I judge people less, I naturally am not as hard on myself either, and when I am more accepting of me, then it always leads to good things! It ripples out to my being more accepting of my kids, for example.

Here is a story that brought me to tears, it is extremely inspiring. (See video below.) If someone met this guy today, they would probably never imagine his past story. I think life is so great that way…that the past can be like a whole different life that is no longer me- that the life I live now can be such a reflection of what I currently stand for and follow and believe in, instead of being stuck in a way of life that didn’t work that may have caused me pain. I hope you feel inspired by this great video too!