Oh how our judgments can prevent us from seeing

Oh how our judgments can prevent us from seeing...

From the practicing forgiveness materials we know that it is our own judgments that bind us and all judgment is indeed self-judgment. As we judge others we are indeed judging ourselves. Those traits, those behaviors, those characteristics that most irritate us only point to those areas for healing within ourselves.

But of course "in real life," our egos can have a good time blaming others for our seeming misery.

Like the other day, my inkjet printer at home was not cooperating. My computer was saying "paper jam" - even though the printer was completely clear. After googling "Paper Jam for Inkjet Model XXXX", I learned that many other people had experienced this same issue of the mystical "paper jam" - but no solution was recorded on any of the sites I checked.

Alas, I had to contact HP online support. Having worked in the IT industry for many years, I "knew" that the online support meant spending 15 or 20 minutes answering all the basic questions from the preliminary screener so that they could figure out they couldn't solve my problem and would then pass me on to one of the "real" technical analysts.

So you may be able to imagine the additional judgment I felt when my preliminary screener indicated her name was Neeta ("Oh no, a call center in India") and when one of her first online communication was in broken English:

Neeta : May I know since how long have you been facing this issue?

I cringed as I imagined the 15-minute screening turning into 30 minutes before Neeta would pass me on to someone who could help me. After a few basic questions. Neeta got down to business.

Neeta : To print a self-test page, press and hold the Power button. Raise and lower the printer cover four times. Release the Power button, and the self-test page prints

As weird as that sounded (raise and lower the printer cover four times), I went ahead and tried it. Miracles...a test page printed! This also meant that Neeta understood that the problem wasn't the printer, since the paper did not jam. Neeta was gaining my confidence.

Neeta : Now click on start->run.
Neeta : Then type "services.msc".
Neeta : Then it will open the services window.
Neeta : Now please look for the option "print spooler".
Neeta : Okay, now , please right click on the option "print spooler" and click on stop then click on start, 3 times.
I did it, and sure enough, the "paper jam" message cleared. I gratefully thanked Neeta and went back to a couple of the sites and loaded the solution Neeta had shared with me.

Oh how our judgments can prevent us from seeing...

On reflection, I smiled and forgave myself for the judgments and the arrogance and I felt thankful to see the self-healing opportunity before me. May we all continue to be vigilant for the healing opportunities that arise in our lives!

In Joy,
Michael