Welcome to the Buddhist Boot Camp Podcast. Our intention is to awaken, enlighten, enrich, and inspire a simple and uncomplicated life. Discover the benefits of mindful living with your host, Timber Hawkeye. Many years ago, I lived in a one bedroom condominium. As a first-time homeowner I made the rookie mistake of

becoming president of the Homeowners Association, HOA, responsible for

community rules and regulations, guidelines, and budgeting.

The monthly HOA dues were already high when I was elected and costs were only continuing to rise,

covering common area expenses such as landscaping, pool maintenance, exterior paint and so on.

Nobody was happy with how expensive the monthly fees were getting, so I looked for ways to lower

them.

I discovered a portion of the monthly dues was actually paying for

shared services that the board was technically not allowed to split between the tenants,

such as cable TV in every unit. The residents who didn't own a TV were thrilled to no longer have to pay for something they weren't using, but the ones who previously benefited from splitting the cost between all the tenants were furious about having to suddenly pay more for cable than they did before I came along.

They sent me death threats in the mail. One resident spit on me from his balcony when I walked by,

yet others praised me for being the best board president they've ever had.

Whether we're talking about HOA's, a city, state, or country, there's never a ruling with which everyone is happy.

The question is, how can we mindfully respond to what we think is unjust when someone else believes it is fair?

Some people direct their anger toward the lawmakers.

Others are upset with those who voted them into office, and quite

a few target their fury at the many people who didn't vote at all when they had the chance.

When we are emotionally triggered like that, we tend to get tunnel vision and only see things from our perspective.

We feel victimized, outraged, and disempowered.

Groening to each other about injustices doesn't bring about a peaceful resolution and hostility

is never effective in addressing what we think needs fixing.

In fact, dwelling on what we believe is unfair negatively affects our ability to do anything productive.

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