Perspectives and Intention

I assist a lot at Landmark Education. This particular day, I was supporting the leader who was leading the session for the next two days. This leader is a very senior leader and had asked me for specific food requirements . He had asked me to give him juice every hour , salads for lunch, and asked me to give me peanuts at 3 pm.

At 3 pm , I asked one of the other male assisting person , to go and get the peanuts. He went and came back with masala peanuts. :( Now , the leader hadnt mentioned what kind of peanuts he wanted, but looking at his other food requirements , I was almost sure that he wanted plain roasted peanuts. I discussed this with the guy who had gone and gave him a piece of my mind about not asking me before buying the peanuts. This guy kept defending himself and said, 'Give and see- it might be ok ' . Much against my prudence, I gave the leader a bowl of masala peanuts.

Within 5 mins, the leader calls me aside and says - 'I cannot have this, since this is bad for my health'.

Damn ! I thought !
But instead and going out and getting the roasted peanuts immediately, I thought I would go in the next break.

After half an hour , when I went out, I saw the leader eating off the whole bowl of masala peanuts. He called me to his side and told me - Veena , see , if you dont get me what I want, I will end up eating this junk food -and this is not good for my health. I felt ashamed of myself for procrastinating bringing the roasted peanuts and immediately went out to get what the leader wanted.

Five minutes after I came back, the assisting guy who had got me the masala peanuts , called me aside. With a twinkle in his eyes and mischievous smile, he tells me - 'You said na, that the masala peanuts are not good for the leaders health - you were wrong - the leader has eaten off the whole bowl of it ! :) ' For a moment I was too stunned to speak.

I then saw so very clearly how the same action can look so different or give a different perspective to two people who are in the same circumstance. The action of the leader which had made me feel ashamed , had made this guy feel mischievously happy.

After all, its not what you do , but the intention behind the action that is important. It is not what you interpret but the perspective with which you interpret that gives meaning to the situation.