Sunday 23 February 2014

What's underneath

Hey there!

Nice to catch up again! :)

My topic for today relates to getting to know people:

We all tend to judge people based on first appearances and a lot of times that is as far as our involvement goes with them.

We may decide we don't like their appearance, they look stand offish, they're not our type , we get a bad vibe from them and so on.

I've done this before and know many others who have and found that by dismissing people based on first appearance and feelings you can miss out on getting to know somebody really wonderful.

I remember labeling someone as grumpy looking and someone I'm never likely to want to get to know and turning out becoming good friends with them because we became connected through our children.

Other times I've prejudged people at work or elsewhere categorized them in my mind as a certain type who I thought looked rather unremarkable only to find out they are an extremely talented musician or sportsperson or an amazing philanthropist.

After giving myself many mental 'clips over the ear' at my decision to judge on appearances over the years, I have finally become a lot more interested in finding 'what's underneath' the people I come in contact with.

There are so many people with so many great stories and experiences that you do yourself a disservice by not getting to know them.

I have met a few people who have been in refugee camps with some incredible stories.

One Cambodian guy who I struck up a conversation with in the kitchen at work once, commented on the fact that he  can never bring himself to waste food. He was unfortunate enough to be living in Cambodia during Pol Pot's reign of terror and had a diet that included many insects, rats and even bark off trees , anything in the name of survival.

Another Romanian guy from work had literally fled his country with the help of relatives and friends under the cover of night during the days of the dictator Nicholae Ceausescu and his Communist regime. What followed was an extremely perilous trip out of Romania to a refugee camp in Germany and finally settlement in Australia.

You could never imagine these stories about what some people have been through and also achieved just by looking at them.

We can learn so much from other people just by taking the time to get to know them and what lies underneath and likewise others can learn a lot from us.

Some people may be extremely quiet and seem stand offish but often all they are looking for is someone to ask them something about themselves and be given the chance to open up.

If you take the time to ask and dig a little deeper below the surface you may be amazed by what you discover.

Plenty of stuff that is truly inspiring!

Hope you have a great week!

Don't forget to look me up on facebook at:  www.facebook.com/theinspirator00

Talk soon!

Cheers

The Inspirator




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