There is good in everything we do, even when we do not think so.

Story

The other day I made a transaction mistake and needed to receive a refund. A small error, easily fixed by a few clicks on a trackpad. However, it is not that simple in The Bahamas.

The banking system here runs much slower than other places in the world due to older infrastructure being in place as well as policies. Thus an instant refund that most of us are used to has become a month-long waiting game.

Since efficiency is a big deal to me, I lost my mind for a moment thinking about how disruptive this system. Especially for larger entities than myself, who do transactions daily.

It’s all in the mind

That said, I did my best to clear my head of these thoughts because they were not doing me any good. Instead, I wondered what could be learnt from this situation and how to improve my self-awareness.

The answer to the first question is a two-parter. First, double-checking is key to everything, especially with tasks involving numbers. The slightest mistake leads to an unwanted hassle.

The second part is proper research, even though I do as much research as possible on ventures and possible outcomes. Sometimes, policies change, which in turn makes prior knowledge obsolete. Therefore, taking a little extra time to search for changes is essential.

Self-awareness

That said, I believe at that moment my self-awareness was low, defining the term as the ability to monitor your inner world. Furthermore, the ability to ask ourselves what can be learnt from the situation and how can it help with growth. I can break this down further into three words, See The Good.

These three words have so much power to change the way you see and contribute to the world around you.

From a personal standpoint, finding the good in situations allows you to explore self-awareness on a deeper level and rewire the mind. This is done by accepting emotions, consciously breaking them down and making peace with them. Thus, reducing the tendency to react in a non-productive way.

Beyond that, it provides the skills necessary to help others on their journey, if you’d like to that is. I firmly believe that helping others goes a long way, even if this is saying three words or offering ten minutes of your time.

Lend a hand to receive a hand and remember to See The Good.

E