Let’s say someone disrespects you, cuts you off, hurts your feelings, calls you a hurtful name, directly does the opposite of what you asked them for, walks into you at the store, etc.
Can you love and accept them for the space and energy they are in within their life, not judge, and not make it about your emotions? Think, “what is their story, what do they have going on in their life, what happened to them that day, etc.?
I myself have learned that when someone is treating me negatively, it is a mirror for either what I need to work on with my personality or it’s a mirror of what I don’t want to be. Always look deeper and see what I can learn from the situation. How I can either improve how I react to those experiences, how I myself can improve those qualities of myself, etc.
I have got better at not making it about me and realizing that is where that person is at in their life and it’s not my place to judge. Now, I don’t need to tolerate or accept it, I can just choose to not jump into the energy and mindset while realizing that is their own shit, not mine.
Example: A woman almost hit me driving after she swerved over to me the other day. Instead of getting angry and saying “wtf, you asshole”, I remember what I have been practicing and then saw her screaming at her kids’ in the back seat. I said to myself, “Ah, there it is. She wasn’t being an asshole, she is probably stressed out with her kids and having a and day. I hope she is safe and finds peace.”
Now, that is a huge step for me and I am proud of how far I have come with my reactions to situations like that. It has been non-stop practice and will continue to be a practice.
What I want to get across is that we quickly jump to our conclusions and make things about us. If we slow down and look at the picture on a larger scale, taking our own emotions out, we can see that other people have their own shit going on and that it isn’t us and we can choose to not let it affect us.
We can accept and love people for where they are in life, the struggles they may be going through, and not making it about us allows us to not jump into that emotion.
I would love all your feedback on my sharing my opinion on this and how you can find ways to practice this more and just love and accept others for where they are in their lives without judgment, fear, or making it about the self.
-Josh P.