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Summary: Annoying People Stimulate Our Spiritual Growth
Review: We all know them: the driver who swerves into our lane as he's going around a curve, the nosy-body who inspects every aspect of our lives with a magnifying glass, or the co-worker who criticizes our decisions. No one Gets through life without encountering difficult peole, sometimes in our own homes where we can't avoid their irritating antics.Mark Rosen, a management consultant and workshop leader who specializes in interpersonal conflict and communication, offers a new approach to dealing with difficult people. If we can see them as teachers sent to us for a purpose, we will find ourselves looking for the lessons we're meant to learn from these gadflies rather than swatting at them or shooing them away. Rosen helps the reader to understand the many causes of difficult personalities, because: "To understand everything is to forgive everything," as stated in the French proverb he shares. Then he shows us some of the ways we can learn from difficult relationships, how frequently the negative traits we find in others are a reflection of our own flaws, and how God sends us difficult people to get our attention. Sometimes pain and frustration are necessary to stimulate our personal and spiritual growth. Rosen guides us gently through this concept so that we can give it serious consideration without feeling defensive. He uses a variety of illustrations to make his points, including the idea that prayer and meditation - working on our inner selves - can result in the transformation of our outer relationships. On the other hand, he shares his realization that encounters with other people, whether loving or difficult, provide opportunities to interact with the divine which are more conducive to his personal growth than "transitory spiritual experiences and abstract spiritual insights." Rosen offers this insight: "As spiritual pursuits, meditation and prayer are much easier than attempting to see the divine in a difficult person." At times I found this book slow going because the catalog of suggestions seems to go on and on. However, readers with a specific "difficult person" problem could skip to the sections that would be most applicable. There are so many nuggets of wisdom in this book, it would probably be best to contemplate a few at a time and apply them as needed before attempting to gather them all. When we learn to thank another person "for being such a pain," we will be a channel of blessings for them as well as for ourselves. Emily VanLaeys, author of DREAM WEAVING: USING DREAM GUIDANCE TO CREATE LIFE'S TAPESTRY
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