Don't Take Anything Personally

We have been studying a book in my office called The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. Of the four agreements, my personal favorite principle… DON’T TAKE ANTHING PERSONALLY. This is an area I continue to work on. We are all so darn concerned about what other people think about us. And this thinking holds us back from our greatest dreams and aspirations.

So let’s learn how to get over ourselves. In our office we have several large screen TVs that show continual slide shows with various healthy guidelines. One is entitled, "tips to bring you a beautiful life." My absolute favorite tip is: "It’s none of your business what others think about you." How true is that? We are so very concerned about other opinions of us. Do you know the average American’s number one fear is the fear of pubic speaking. It outranks the fear of death. That means we’d rather be in the casket than giving our eulogy. AND WHY YOU MIGHT ASK??? Because we are afraid of what other people think of us when we are speaking. We are so concerned about their opinions that it can leave us in a state of fear if we were to have to deliver a public address.

I learned that once when I was listening to a CD from a nationally known pastor talking about delivering his sermon. He said the only thing that keeps him from getting nervous is re-membering that his message isn’t about him, it’s about serving others. And as long as he remembers that, he does just fine.

Eleanor Roosevelt said "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." Repeat it to yourself. No one can make YOU feel inferior with YOUR consent. Are you allowing others to make you feel inferior? Who are you listening to that’s making you feel bad? And here’s another question. Is that who YOU? Do you continue to batter your-self down with your own negative self talk? Do you take personally all of your negative self talk?

I made a decision a while ago that I was done with negative self talk. In a given day we are given 100% energy. And I’ve got lots of places I want to share that energy. Giving time to nega-tive self talk, or giving that energy to someone else to bring me down, is no longer happening in my life. I will not allow it. That’s the beauty of CHOICE.

So this agreement is an important one. Don’t take anything personally – not what someone else says to you, not what you say to yourself, not your circumstances, not the news, not what your mother-in-law says, not what your boss says. But please take this person-ally. I think you have an amazing capacity to heal, to become well, to give and to serve. A better thought life will get you there.

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