A Christmas Carol #3
A Christmas Carol - Reflection #3
“It is a fair, even-handed, noble adjustment of things, that while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.”
Stephen Covey once commented, “We must look at the lens through which we see the world, as well as the world we see, because the lens itself shapes how we interpret the world.” It is all about perspective and the one we choose impacts and infects not only own experiences but also those around us.
For example, here are ten actual complaints received by the company Thomas Cook Vacations from dissatisfied customers that illustrates the WRONG kind of perspective:
"We booked an excursion to a water park but no-one told us we had to bring our own swimsuits and towels. We assumed it would be included in the price."
"The beach was too sandy. We had to clean everything when we returned to our room."
"We found the sand was not like the sand in the brochure. Your brochure shows the sand as white but it was more yellow."
"It's lazy of the local shopkeepers in Puerto Vallartato close in the afternoons. I often needed to buy things during 'siesta' time -- this should be banned."
"No-one told us there would be fish in the water. The children were scared."
"The roads were uneven and bumpy, so we could not read the local guide book during the bus ride to the resort. Because of this, we were unaware of many things that would have made our holiday more fun."
"It took us nine hours to fly home from Jamaica to England. It took the Americans only three hours to get home. This seems unfair."
"I compared the size of our one-bedroom suite to our friends' three-bedroom and ours was significantly smaller."
"We had to line up outside to catch the boat and there was no air-conditioning."
"I was bitten by a mosquito. The brochure did not mention mosquitoes."
The point…attitude is contagious, so relax a little, realizing that the perspective you choose impacts those around you.