Today I was with a couple of students who were verbally battling it out. Oh my, it was a mudslinging moment! My first responsibility was to diffuse the conflict as quickly as I could. I felt that I could help the boy to stop before I could the girl, as she was the furthest from being centered. Interestingly, once I was able to help him to stop, she stopped, but he was near tears. He felt he was the one in trouble.

I said, "Oh no, she started it, I am well aware of that. You were the one I felt I could help out of the argument!" As one of the students said, "She is always angry! That is her normal tone."

I turned to her and said, "Hmmmm is that true?"

She said, "Yes!"

"Do you guys know that you are mirrors of each other?"

The whole class looked at me. I had their two eyes and ears now! So, I proceeded to say, "We get back the energy we put out. In this case you," as I turned to the girl, "put out a very negative energy in your tone." Than I turned to the boy and said, "And you returned it back to her like a reflection in the mirror, you were not in a low mood when you came to class where you?"

He said, "No, not at all!"

"See, you reflected her energy back to her."

Than I turned back to her and said, "It is like a boomerang, your energy came right back to you, do you see that?"

She said, "YES, I DO!"

I than addressed the whole class and said, "OK, so you guys learned something today, right?" They nodded. "The next time someone is upset with you, make sure you check in with yourself first to see if what you are getting from the other person is a reflection of your mood! If it is not, check to make sure you are not 'mirroring' the other person's tone and feeling!"

"If you are mirroring them, than get yourself back to center as quickly as possible. It actually might help the angry person to come back to center as well!"

I looked around the room, all of the students were looking at me with that "WOW" look on their faces. The rest of the class went so smoothly.

The girl with the angry tone, changed her ways and I made sure to let her know that I noticed the change for the positive.

Later, I ran into a long time friend, a school counselor. We chatted for a while about this moment in time. For the first time in a number of weeks, I felt like I had been guided. I was in a place to make a difference today in the lives of these kids. I love it when the UNIVERSE sets us up for success!

(First posted on Empowered Horsemanship)