If you’ve ever read the comments section of anything, you’ve probably seen the obsession and joy that comes with finding that “your” that should have been a “you’re.” Certainly there is an aspect of insecurity, but a recent occurrence made me wonder if the somewhat aggressive act of correcting another’s grammar has something else beneath it. Namely, avoidance.
I run the Facebook Page for My Yoga Online, and for the month of January I have been posting a “Healthy Habit” every day. On Friday, I published the following post:
Healthy Habit for 2014:
Write this quote somewhere in your home and look at it every day:
“Your body is an imposter, a tiny fraction of who you really are. Ninety-nine percent of who you are is invisible and untouchable.” – Pam Grout
I accidentally misspelled the word “impostor,” and of the only 6 people who commented, 3 of those people pointed out my mistake. I almost went and edited the post to change the spelling (because you can do that now on Facebook), but then I stopped. Was the message of the quote lost on them? What made them focus on the error and ignore the message? Was it an act of avoidance? Was the message behind the quote simply at a different vibration than the one they were currently operating on?
In E Squared by Pam Grout, told the story of a woman fuming while waiting at a bus stop. She complained that she had been waiting there forever, and cursed the bus driver for the unreasonable wait. Pam’s friend (who told her the story) said that she would have felt badly for her, but the bus actually came several times while she was standing there, but she literally could not see it. “The bus, thanks to her intense commitment to struggle and anger, was literally out of her energetic sphere.”
Is this same principle at work here?
“They” also say that we attract what we focus on. The other 3 commenters and 586 “likes” either did not notice the spelling error, or decided that it simply wasn’t as important as the idea behind the quote. Okay, if I’m honest with myself, the fact that I’m dwelling over the comments of three people who pointed out a mistake that I made is a testament to my own insecurities… I’m working on it.
That being said, I think that it’s important to remind ourselves to open our eyes to opportunity and synchronicity. Every interaction and every experience has the ability to change our lives, but if we’re constantly looking for and focusing on the negative, complaining about injustice and mocking stupidity, there’s a pretty good chance we’ll miss a kick-ass quote.
Am I blowing this out of proportion? Definitely.
I never correct grammar unless I am being paid. 🙂
Lol that made laugh.
I loved reading this post! I don’t think you are blowing this out of proportion, but rather pointing out a very important message. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Much love
I was once an angry girl most likely the same woman who missed the bus despite it passing me three times. I also noticed more negativity reaffirming my perception that the world was hostile. I used to be the grammar nazi because I thought it was a nice thing to help out an author of a book/article so those readers after me didn’t see their Spelling/grammatical errors (I must have really liked the authors to make this effort FOR THEM lol). I realise it was just another negative observation and I wasnt really helping. The author would have loved to hear how they helped me, entertained me, made me laugh, informed me etc.
That was nine years ago. So much magic has happened since. Your blog is exceptional!!!
Wow! Thank you so much for sharing your story and for your feedback!
It’s amazing what can happen when you change your mindset and start noticing different things. I mean, obviously I’m still working on it, but I have noticed some definite shifts. What sort of magic has happened with you?