By: Susan Hinds

Susan Hinds — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 23:29:39 +0000

Hello Jennifer, I wanted to thank you for the work you do. You are coming straight from the heart and I love the way you have impacted my life. I just wanted to say thank you and that I look forward to receiving your emails.

By: bonni

bonni — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 21:12:15 +0000

This post was interestingly appropriate for me. The other day I had a rather bizarre encounter with a total stranger. She felt that I’d parked in such a way that I was deliberately blocking her driveway (I did check when I parked and thought I was clear enough that if someone needed to get in or out they’d be okay, but apparently I made an error in judgment on the distances).
It was an encounter that should have been over in three sentences. She was waiting for me by my car, and she complained and told me not to block her drive way any more. I apologised and assured her it wouldn’t happen again. She proceeded with more verbal abuse, and the more I apologised, the more irate she became. She started going on about how I always did this (I’ve never parked in front of her house before!) and about how “you people” (meaning, parents who have children at the elementary school just up the
street, who park there when picking up their kids) are always doing this to her and about how selfish I am and on and on. She actually called me a liar! She just would not accept my sincere apology (and it was sincere). I was truthful, I was honest, I was non-confrontational, but what she actually wanted was just someone to abuse for her real or perceived victimisation. I finally had to just get in the car and leave, because nothing I said helped the situation.
I was, to put it mildly, quite shaken by the encounter. I have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the encounter (which I would classify as verbal assault) triggered a pretty nasty anxiety attack, so I had to work through that. I also had to think about what I did to create it or draw it to myself, and what I did to contribute to it. I had to work through anger and fear and forgiveness of myself and this woman I’d never met before.
I went through similar steps as you, although I didn’t do the Ho’oponopono at the time (have now that I read this post, though, it’s perfect for a situation like this).
It’s surprisingly traumatic to be called a liar and verbally attacked by a complete
stranger! However, this post had given me a lot of really good ideas on how to proceed and how to get to a place of understanding of both myself and this other person. I hope to end it with healing and a blessing for us both.
Thanks for posting. It was timely.

Comments on: How To Cope in Trying Times

By: Susan Hinds

By: bonni