Meet You There
Out beyond ideas of right doing and wrongdoing there is a field…. I’ll meet you there.’ Rumi
Out beyond ideas of right doing and wrongdoing there is a field…. I’ll meet you there.’ RumThese past few weeks I have gotten the opportunity to spend a whole lot of time in the field today’s quote references. I have been locked in fierce negotiations with a major corporation. Suffice it to say I have felt like a have been wearing a name tag that says ‘little guy’ as I butt heads with a behemoth of a company that has the ability to flick me away like a pesky gnat. In a nutshell, I was led to believe that this company would provide us (this is a whole family thing) with something I will call ‘plan A’ if we invested amount X in their product. Now that I have reached the place where ‘Plan A’ is supposed to be provided, they have placed it firmly out of reach unless amount X gains several more dollar signs.I have held my ground, and referenced our original contract repeatedly… but more importantly I have somehow remained calm and if not exactly kind, at least profusely civil.As negotiations have continued I have worked hard to maintain an attitude of respect with each person that I have dealt with. In large part by reminding myself that we are all standing in that field together, and no one is 100% right, or 100% wrong.As this rather polite skirmish continued, I had mentally prepared myself for defeat. I knew the odds for success were not in my favor and I had been told in no uncertain terms that this company had an ‘airtight’ contract that had been drawn up by corporate attorneys who would mop the floor with a ‘little guy’ like me.Because I knew I had very little real power to change the course of this company's actions, rather than getting angry and sending empty threats their way or flailing in front of them and begging to get my way, I instead simply gathered my own resources and began working toward an alternate plan. I quietly crafted my ‘plan B’. Plan B would result in the desired outcome but would require a huge hassle. Rather than focusing on the hassle I decided I would focus on being grateful that I even had a Plan B.Shifting my focus must have created some breathing room for Plan A because to my utter delight, this morning I received word from said company that .... Plan A is back on the horizon! They did an about face- truly a 100% turn toward the direction of their original promise to us. What a happy surprise!