Sometimes you are in line. It’s part of today’s day to day. If you want a cell phone, a roasted chicken, or a new driver’s license, you will probably at some point find yourself waiting in line.
There’s really no use fighting it, so you may well relax and wait patiently for the customers in front of you to finish their transactions. Sometimes it’s just one slow person, with lots of random requests that make the cashier want to pull her hair out. Or it may be a long line of very efficient persons, all with a quick transaction, paying quickly with a chip-enabled credit card (no signature required). Nevertheless, you will just have to wait these things out, whether it be a pleasant place with friendly fellow wait-in-liners, or a hot and stuffy room with very bad piped-in music. It’s just part of the price you must pay for the convenience of shops that are stocked with the myriad of perfect products to make your life go more smoothly.
But sometimes there is an additional problem while you wait to pay for your soy sauce/shampoo/party supplies. And that problem is the person directly behind you. Yes, that person who did not have the wisdom to read these humble lines on this humble page from this humble author, yours truly.
The person directly behind you is inevitably In A Hurry, is of Very Important Standing, or both. This person does not see the wisdom of waiting in line patiently, daydreaming and staring off into the middle distance. This person will attempt to make the line go more quickly by crowding you, pushing his or her shopping basket into the back of your ankles, or evacuating heavy sighs and mumbled complaints. In this instance, your Zen state of mind, while you deliberately wait patiently to check out, will be dented, interrupted or even destroyed.
But I will ask you to be wise and patient once again, because there is one gesture, so natural and easy going, that will solve this problem for you, and instantly give you the space you need in order to go back to patiently waiting in line. This gesture (you will most likely chuckle to yourself when you read it, it’s so elegantly simple) is the simple gesture of putting both of your hands through your hair, and enjoy the feeling of your beautiful mane, with a gentle shake at the end, as if you were auditioning for a shampoo commercial. Yes, even if your hair is in need of a wash, or even if it’s tangled from this afternoon’s ride in a convertible, set all of that aside and enjoy your moment and your hair.
Since all humans are programmed to be afraid of lice, of dandruff, and of Other People’s Hair flying at them, they will immediately back up, and give you the space you need to go back to your gentle dreaming. Problem solved. You are welcome.