[Luba]

I work for a big Company, and with lots of people there is always quite a bit of drama that is in the air and sometimes, depends how I feel, I do catch it and others do the same! In peaceful surroundings one tends to be peaceful, but where tension and stress abounds, watch it or one will catch it!

Anyway, there are five people working in our little area and we always prided ourselves on being a happy, tight-knit little group. So, one of the girls had a HUGE falling out with her co-worker. So..it became a very negative environment for me and was pulling me down inside. One of the girls in this group just stopped talking to all of us. So the four of us talked about it, and I kept saying I have to clear the air, and was told one by one by the other four to leave it alone and let the girl just stew in her juices. Just leave her alone, they said.

Well, to be one of these people that just prays a lot and listens to her own heart, yesterday I approached the girl that was giving us the cold shoulder and with much aforethought and well-chosen words, asked what the problem was. She said that she thought I had sided with my other friend and how did she put it?...oh yes, "XXXX had gotten to you, too" to which I added, "no one gets to me, I listen to my own heart"...anyway, now she knows. I said "Just know I care and I miss the way things were". I knew it was the right thing I had done for me because my heart felt so much lighter and I felt comfortable again. She also started talking a little and even told me a joke.

A lesson was learned for me by this...problems are solved by communication, not by the silent treatment. Another lesson, listen to my own heart and what's right for me. Another lesson, to approach a problem not with attack, but gentleness, because you never know what the person is feeling. No matter how right I think I am, there is always two sides and most of the time, the other person is really hurting.