10 February 2015

Stop Taking Things Personally!

Sounds so simple ... yet so hard to simply stop taking some things personally, particularly when you know you are right!  The overwhelm of intense emotion is a sure-fire trigger for your nervous system to quickly head into “fight or flight” and with nowhere else to go, you shutdown or avoid or placate or fight hard. Whatever the choice, the outcome is usually the same: not what you really want.

Well this is just another vicious and viscous cycle of “not-good-enough/making yourself wrong”... just another way your fearful ego-mind engages you in the dance of fear and down the rabbit-hole you go.

Yet there’s wisdom and resolution hidden in this gem of an oft used cliche:

When you ... stop ... and get present to who you are and what is happening ... when you ... stop ... and take a breath and remember that the feelings are not facts, they are just feelings ... and you let them move through you without making up a whole lot of “not-good-enough” stories about yourself ... when you simply accept, allow and appreciate that whatever is occurring, is occurring ... when you stop taking what happens externally as meaning anything about you and instead remember that all feedback is simply showing you what impact you have been having in the world ... you can then choose to change the way you react and begin responding with love instead.

It’s not easy but it is possible to move to a place in yourself where you can be with your feelings without becoming them, where you can truly appreciate the moments without automatically sorting everything into good/bad or right/wrong. A place of equanimity and peace. And as with all things you choose to master, it does require diligence and rigor and practice ... a willingness to grow and change and do the inner work ... and support to help you along the way as you support and help others on their way. 

Always the key is remaining mindful and aware of who you are - magnificent, lovable, valuable creative being - while you navigate your way through the human experience.


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"Men are not disturbed by things
but by the view which they take of them"
Epictetus

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