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There is a story from the book Stories of the spirit that goes like this:

A family went out to eat at a restaurant. The waitress came to take their order. The father and mother ordered their food then the little girl piped up and said “I’ll have a hot dog, fries and a coke” the father quickly interjected saying “oh no you won’t, she’ll have meatloaf, potatoes and milk”. The waitress looked at the little girl and asked “what would you like on your hotdog?”

After the waitress walked away the little girl smiled, looked at her parents and said “she thinks I’m real”

How often do we really see people? See people and see them as real, versus see people and expect them to be what or who we want them to be?

This week, just take notice of how you’re seeing people around you.  Are they just noise in a crowd? Are they objects in your way?  A bunch of Idiots, ahem, obstacles, making your life harder as you drive your kid to swim lessons?

Or are they people with their own goals, interests, desires, personalities, quirks, imperfections, falibilities?

Have you ever had the experience of driving somewhere, and you get cut off by a car, you get mad - what is this jerk thinking?!  Then you look over and realize it’s your aunt that cut you off, and you’re not mad anymore, in fact you think it’s funny because you know that she’s probably being a distracted driver because she always has a million things on her mind and you just love her anyway.

Suddenly the car that cut you off goes from being an object to a person that you see.

How do you think your life would change if you shifted your perspective to seeing all the people you encounter as REAL?

Without judgment, observe yourself this week in the way you see others.

Just start with where you are and notice, what is your default perspective on the realness of people?

Be watchful, stay curious.  This is how impactful change happens.