WHY PEOPLE SABOTAGE HAPPINESS I/3

A friend came to see me and we talked over a cup of tea. She told me two stories that really made me think about:”Why do people sometimes deliberately sabotage their own happiness?”

The first story:

Her new neighbours-to-be started  to use  a part of my friends’ terrain to access the building site for their new home. They claimed having the right-of-way, passed on from generation to generation.
My surprised and not very amused friends looked into it,  but they couldn’t find any legal ground for it to submit to it.
Long story short: after 9 months of quarrel and legal procedures, the experts say there is no ‘right-of-way’ . It also turns out that the new neighbours have tried to get it, by using a few sabotage tricks.

The second story:

A few amateur musicians decided to get together one evening to make music. One of them volunteered to be the host for the evening, in her house.
She arranged a few chairs in the living room, had coffee and cake ready . But almost from the moment the others arrived, all sorts of things happened that made the atmosphere go into nose-diving mode.

This second story was not new to me, because the host of the evening had told me her side of it, a few days ago,. She admitted to me that she felt compelled to give distinct ‘signs’ to the others that she wanted to improve the situation.

Isn’t it striking, that all the people involved in these stories want to achieve something beautiful: living peacefully in a nice hamlet in France and enjoying the company of fellow musicians and the joy of making music together.

Apparently, there were some different views on ‘how’ this can be achieved. But the end result (so far) of the actions taken, is a rift, rather than the desired harmony.

To be continued in part II.......