Frustration with another person can take an immense toll on your productivity and general well-being. It is usually not that long until frustration turns into anger, and anger tends to build inside of us the more we bottle it up. When we view the world through a lens tinted with irritability, the negativity spreads and we’re the only ones who really suffer. All that vexation might occur in relation to an exterior issue, but it still lives inside us.
It would be easy for me to talk about methods of dealing with workplace frustrations, different team-building tactics, and ways to bury disputes, but that article has already been written. The reality of life is that sometimes people don’t gel—personalities collide and rifts result. These incidents can cause anything from mild irritation to outright rage.
Some people just have that effect.
Love that person. The best way to counteract a strong negative emotion is with a strong positive emotion. In business we often preach level-headed interactions based on sincere forethought and stoicism. Most of the time that is a great way to operate, but when it comes to the kind of person that makes you insane, whose mere presence makes you repulsed, diplomatic solutions will rarely address the root issue.
Love will conquer, love will allow you to see with clear eyes, love will allow you to purge yourself of hate. There is nothing in the world more powerful, so never let a person infringe upon your ability to love by making you feel hate. Open you heart. That doesn’t mean you have to make yourself vulnerable, it doesn’t mean you have to open up; it just means that you have to accept and embrace the person for exactly who they are and understand that their conduct is a fact of their lives, and has nothing to do with yours.
Understand the amount of power someone exercises over you when they hinder your ability to love, and imagine how much unlimited power you will have at your disposal when you learn to direct your love at life’s most challenging obstacles. Love transcends worldly methods. Your money is limited, your time is limited, your influence is limited. But within you there is a wellspring of love at your disposal. Use it for good, and you will be making a daily contribution to improving the world—one interaction at a time.
