Take Nothing Personally

 

The dream you are living is your creation.
It is your perception of reality that you can change at any time.

- don Miguel Ruiz

Whatever anyone else says or does, their words
and their actions are truly about themselves.
Don't take it personally when they rant,
even if they direct their unhappiness in your direction.
Their negativity is basically selfishness,
and their selfishness is about them, not about you.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; ...
Forgive them anyway.
- Kent Keith
(often attributed to Mother Teresa, who kept a copy on the wall of her orphanage)

We are to take nothing personally,
least of all ourselves, for the moment we do,
our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.
- Hopi Proverb

What you think of me is none of my business.
- Terry Cole-Whittaker

Don't Take Anything Personally.
Nothing others do is because of you.
What others say and do is a projection of their own reality.
- Miguel Angel Ruiz (don Miguel Ruiz)

If you want reality to be different than it is,
you might as well try to teach a cat to bark.
- Byron Katie

Chaos is the score upon which reality is written.
- Henry Miller

You can't get mad at weather because weather's not about you.
Apply that lesson to most other aspects of life.
- Doug Coupland

Further reading: Don't Take Rejection Personally

How to Not Care What People Think about You

How to be Positive Around Negative People

Don Miguel Ruiz' Four Agreements

Families and Social Expectations
      

Whatever Others Say or Do, it is About Them, Not You

The dream you are living is your creation.
It is your perception of reality that you can change at any time.

- don Miguel Ruiz

Whatever anyone else says or does, their words
and their actions are truly about themselves.
Don't take it personally when they rant,
even if they direct their unhappiness in your direction.
Their negativity is basically selfishness,
and their selfishness is about them, not about you.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; ...
Forgive them anyway.
- Kent Keith
(often attributed to Mother Teresa, who kept a copy on the wall of her orphanage)

We are to take nothing personally,
least of all ourselves, for the moment we do,
our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.
- Hopi Proverb

What you think of me is none of my business.
- Terry Cole-Whittaker

Don't Take Anything Personally.
Nothing others do is because of you.
What others say and do is a projection of their own reality.
- Miguel Angel Ruiz (don Miguel Ruiz)

If you want reality to be different than it is,
you might as well try to teach a cat to bark.
- Byron Katie

Chaos is the score upon which reality is written.
- Henry Miller

You can't get mad at weather because weather's not about you. Apply that lesson to most other aspects of life.
- Doug Coupland

Further reading: Don't Take Rejection Personally

How to Not Care What People Think about You

How to be Positive Around Negative People

Don Miguel Ruiz' Four Agreements

Families and Social Expectations
      

Don't Take Criticism Personally

 

The dream you are living is your creation.
It is your perception of reality that you can change at any time.

- don Miguel Ruiz

Whatever anyone else says or does, their words
and their actions are truly about themselves.
Don't take it personally when they rant,
even if they direct their unhappiness in your direction.
Their negativity is basically selfishness,
and their selfishness is about them, not about you.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; ...
Forgive them anyway.
- Kent Keith
(often attributed to Mother Teresa, who kept a copy on the wall of her orphanage)

We are to take nothing personally,
least of all ourselves, for the moment we do,
our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.
- Hopi Proverb

What you think of me is none of my business.
- Terry Cole-Whittaker

Don't Take Anything Personally.
Nothing others do is because of you.
What others say and do is a projection of their own reality.
- Miguel Angel Ruiz (don Miguel Ruiz)

If you want reality to be different than it is,
you might as well try to teach a cat to bark.
- Byron Katie

Chaos is the score upon which reality is written.
- Henry Miller

You can't get mad at weather because weather's not about you.

Apply that lesson to most other aspects of life.
- Doug Coupland

Further reading: Don't Take Rejection Personally

How to Not Care What People Think about You

How to be Positive Around Negative People

Don Miguel Ruiz' Four Agreements

Families and Social Expectations
      

Take Nothing Personally

 

The dream you are living is your creation.
It is your perception of reality that you can change at any time.

- don Miguel Ruiz

Whatever anyone else says or does, their words
and their actions are truly about themselves.
Don't take it personally when they rant,
even if they direct their unhappiness in your direction.
Their negativity is basically selfishness,
and their selfishness is about them, not about you.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; ...
Forgive them anyway.
- Kent Keith
(often attributed to Mother Teresa, who kept a copy on the wall of her orphanage)

We are to take nothing personally,
least of all ourselves, for the moment we do,
our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.
- Hopi Proverb

What you think of me is none of my business.
- Terry Cole-Whittaker

Don't Take Anything Personally.
Nothing others do is because of you.
What others say and do is a projection of their own reality.
- Miguel Angel Ruiz (don Miguel Ruiz)

If you want reality to be different than it is,
you might as well try to teach a cat to bark.
- Byron Katie

Chaos is the score upon which reality is written.
- Henry Miller

You can't get mad at weather because weather's not about you.

Apply that lesson to most other aspects of life.
- Doug Coupland

Further reading: Don't Take Rejection Personally

How to Not Care What People Think about You

How to be Positive Around Negative People

Don Miguel Ruiz' Four Agreements

Families and Social Expectations
      

What others say and do is a projection of their own reality

The dream you are living is your creation.
It is your perception of reality that you can change at any time.

- don Miguel Ruiz

Whatever anyone else says or does, their words
and their actions are truly about themselves.
Don't take it personally when they rant,
even if they direct their unhappiness in your direction.
Their negativity is basically selfishness,
and their selfishness is about them, not about you.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; ...
Forgive them anyway.
- Kent Keith
(often attributed to Mother Teresa, who kept a copy on the wall of her orphanage)

We are to take nothing personally,
least of all ourselves, for the moment we do,
our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.
- Hopi Proverb

What you think of me is none of my business.
- Terry Cole-Whittaker

Don't Take Anything Personally.
Nothing others do is because of you.
What others say and do is a projection of their own reality.
- Miguel Angel Ruiz (don Miguel Ruiz)

If you want reality to be different than it is,
you might as well try to teach a cat to bark.
- Byron Katie

Chaos is the score upon which reality is written.
- Henry Miller

You can't get mad at weather because weather's not about you.

Apply that lesson to most other aspects of life.
- Doug Coupland

Further reading: Don't Take Rejection Personally

How to Not Care What People Think about You

How to be Positive Around Negative People

Don Miguel Ruiz' Four Agreements

Families and Social Expectations
      

It's Not Personal

Don't Take Anything Personally.
Nothing others do is because of you.
What others say and do is a projection of their own reality.
- don Miguel Ruiz

If you want reality to be different than it is,
you might as well try to teach a cat to bark.
- Byron Katie

You can't get mad at weather because weather's not about you.
Apply that lesson to most other aspects of life.
- Doug Coupland 

Chaos is the score upon which reality is written.
- Henry Miller

The dream you are living is your creation.
It is your perception of reality that you can change at any time.
- don Miguel Ruiz

Whatever anyone else says or does, their words
and their actions are truly about themselves.
Don't take it personally when they rant,
even if they direct their unhappiness in your direction.
Their negativity is basically selfishness,
and their selfishness is about them, not about you.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Your Own Reality

How to Not Care What People Think about You

How to be Positive Around Negative People

Don't Take Rejection Personally
     

Why I Choose to Believe that Others are Never the Cause of My Unhappiness

I received a question about the message "FORGIVENESS - the second Point of Simply An Inspired Life." The simplified version of the question is, "I don't understand how you can believe that other people don't make you happy or unhappy."

Most everything in life is about our point-of-view rather than any absolute. If I say, "Judy makes me unhappy," that's neither true nor false. If I say that my happiness has nothing to do with Judy, that is also neither absolutely true nor false. If I say that I feel unhappy when I'm around Judy, that's a little more objective, but it doesn't address the question of cause.

So why is it important whether we blame other people for our unhappiness (or for our happiness)? It isn't because of philosophy or a need to ponder the meaning of life. It's purely practical. If I choose to believe that the behavior of others determines my happiness, I become a helpless tumbleweed, blown about by circumstances, with no apparent ability to direct my own life. However, if I choose to believe that I am in control of my life, then annoying people, like all other obstacles in life, become just stones in my path - a nuisance, but not a road block.

Whenever I choose to carry resentment and hatred, I am shouldering an immense burden that damages my happiness, and often my health. So what if my resentment and hatred are "justified," they only hurt me, not the person I resent.

The key point is that we do have a choice of how we view the various nuisances on our life path. One choice makes us slaves to circumstances, while the other empowers us and motivates us to follow our dreams - and our happiness.