image courtesy of: http://www.htcsbronx.org

An interesting thing happened to me recently; I had to go into the courthouse to serve my jury duty. This isn’t the first time that I have done this, in fact I am one of those people that get a jury summons almost every year. The last time I got a summons I was about 6 months to a year before xiaoyi and I started this branch of our journey that we have been sharing and I found a profound difference in my outlook on the whole jury duty situation.

The laws are sure that a place of employment has to give you time off, so that you can go to a jury summons. The laws says nothing about paying you for that time off and that is the reality I had lived every other time that I had gone to serve jury duty. It was always a strain on my mental well-being as I stressed about finances because I was losing out on at least a day of wages, something that always made things more difficult for me. That colored my entire perception of the process. I always felt that it was a waste of my time, that it was a massive annoyance that I could happily live without. Add into that the fact that I had never been chosen for a jury and it all seemed like the biggest waste of time that I was legally obligated to attend. Needless to say, my views after getting called in for it time and again just created a cycle of me dreading the summons each time it appeared.

This time I got the summons, my initial response was the same as it had always been, annoyance and frustrations. Yet as I woke up on the morning in question I was in a good mood. I had slept in a bit from my usual wake up time and had a bit more time before I had to run out the door. That gave me time to enjoy my coffee and breakfast and relax a little before heading out. The traffic was light as I was headed away from the city to reach the courthouse and it was a very pleasant morning. Even after I got there, checked in and sat down, none of the frustration and annoyance of the past times intruded on me. I spent the morning answering questions from the judge and lawyers and was eventually not selected for the jury and was released to head home. On the way home, I realized that it was a good experience all in all. So what had changed?

I asked myself that question on my way home and realized that I had changed. The work on self growth and personal development that I have been doing these past months has drastically changed my outlook. I was not frustrated at losing a day of work because the money would still be there and be waiting for me. It didn’t need me grinding away at a desk today, so I wasn’t out anything there, but that wasn’t the real reason for the change. My outlook on life in general has changed so much that it even transferred into this situation. I was able to spend the morning looking at all the things that were enjoyable, all the things that I could learn and invest my mind and attention on. So I didn’t lose the time I spent that morning at jury duty, I used it to expand my own horizons and implement that perception practices that I have been using and sharing here. And that practice, that change in outlook, turned and annoying and frustrating morning into a joyful experience. Maybe next time I will be selected for the jury and get to experience even more in this life than have.

This situation showed me very clearly that I am changing and I am growing. It was one of those moments when I was able to see and realize the results of my personal investments and the growth that I have achieved over the past year. This has been profound for me and helped to fuel the fire to keep moving forward and keep working and growing. Have you had an experience that has shown you the extent of the changes you have made in your life? Please share what that was and how it helped you on your path, I would love to hear it!