Like Butta!

Like Butta!

©Allen Merritt (2015)

                      

Take a moment to ask yourself the following:

What do you do when something doesn’t seem to make any sense?

Would you allow it to bring you down and rip you apart inside?

What do you do when you feel like everything is going wrong at work?

Would you constantly complain?

If you disagree with a process, procedure or policy, what can you do?

Would you quit?

Most of these options not only appear as negative solutions, but are unrealistic in most environments. If you give up, quit and constantly make extreme changes, you would never keep a job, a relationship or achieve goals and dreams.

So how do you keep everything on a positive note?

I’d like to share the following story and anecdote from a previous work environment.

Years ago an old colleague of mine and I used to find ways to laugh and have a good time at our “little” corporate job. We’d discover ways to amuse ourselves despite our work conditions by making up jokes and songs. I’m pretty sure, when it comes to our jobs, many will attest to how some days are better than others.  In any case, my associate and I would calculate subtle ways to laugh about everything. We chose to make our day(s) uplifting and positive. We had to! It was a matter of self-preservation and survival. Some jobs, people and circumstances place you in that position.

I’m not sure what happened or how it came about, but suddenly we started using a little phrase, “Like Butta!” This was our modest inside joke and daily mantra. Every time something would start to go haywire we’d make a smirky face and whisper, “Like Butta!” Sometimes we would even say it with a funny voice and with different vocal inflections.

Like Butta!

Like BUTTA!

Like…..wait for it……Butt-aa!

My friend and I were like-minded enough to understand the importance of turning things around to make a better day for ourselves and everyone else around us. We either both complained and aggravated the sore or we dared to find a way to soothe it.

In a round-about way, I can see the phrase in an eastern philosophical way. I could just as well be saying, “Like Buddha!”  Buddhism suggests the impermanence of everything.  Don’t get too attached to what is going on around you. Acknowledge it, watch it and let it move along.

Looking back I realize how we were making an effort to find balance and a happy medium in doing our jobs, as well as being (a) human in a work environment. This little inside joke became our way of embracing the moment, going with the flow and understanding that “This too shall pass.”

Like Bhudda!

Like Butta!

Repeating the ‘Like Butta!” mantra reminded us that nothing is ever important enough to get the best of us. “Like Butta!” allowed us to see things for what they were and not get over-emotional or over-reactive in the right here and right now. We simply permitted those temporary moments of chaos to roll off our backs like warm butter (i.e. the phrase ‘Like Butta!’).

Now, I am not one to deny how or what I feel. I don’t hide things that well. You can read the concern in my eyes. Nevertheless, I’m an advocate for experiencing whatever it is you are feeling, coming to grips with a situation, understanding where you fit in, investigating further to make sure something important is not being noticed which could change or impact the situation (not everything is what it appears to be) and then making a decision to let go and move on in an appropriate manner. In other words, work on finding a happy solution that benefits the better part of the whole. Each individual decision will vary. It may mean coming to a compromise or moving away from the circumstances altogether.

In the end, most people are not Super heroes. We can’t please everyone. We can only do the best we can no matter where we are and what we are doing. Sometimes you have to let it roll off your back like butter.

So instead of fearing the unknown or getting upset and worrying about those ‘what if’s’ and crazy happenstances, start singing your own tunes.

If you want, you can even borrow our little mantra. Feel free to chant it over and over again.

Like Butta!

Repeat that about 40 times and you will be an expert at letting it go….at least, I hope so!

Cheers!