“If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?”
― Rumi

In our daily lives, we often find our selves irritated by the little things in life: the traffic light that makes us wait, a rude waiter, a mess in the kitchen that someone left for us, someone who just “rubs us the wrong way.” There’s no end to it. Rumi shows us there is another way. The inevitable frictions of life are unavoidable, but how we respond to them is firmly within our circle of influence.

We all know that a pearl is a response to irritation. But the oyster creates beauty from it and never whines. Can we be as wise as an oyster and do the same? The knife on a whetstone is irritated by the rubbing, but positioned at the right angle, the friction creates a fine razor edge. So can we hone  our rough edges,  if we change our position in relationship to the endless irritants that life gives us. We can let them rub us the right way.

What can you transform from irritation to inspiration today?

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Jalal ad-Din Muhammed Rumi was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufimystic. Rumi’s influence transcends national borders and ethnic divisions; people of all faiths and nations have greatly appreciated his spiritual legacy for the past seven centuries. His poems have been widely translated into many of the world’s languages and transposed into various formats. Rumi has been described as the “most popular poet” and the “best selling poet” in the United States.

Joe Laur is a father, husband, naturalist, executive, consultant, and a lowly rabbinic student. He can be reached at joe.laur@godsdog.net.