Thought
It seems as though people are easily offended these days.
“Cancel” seems to be the new way of handling people and events that don’t align with our beliefs.
Facts
People will always say and do things that don’t align with our beliefs and thinking.
It’s our choice whether or not we become offended and lose our serenity.
I can’t stand it when someone uses the “R” word because we have a son who is developmentally disabled.
Does it disappoint me when someone calls someone or something “ret***ed?” Â Yes, but I don’t take it personally, as I figure the person using that word would not be using it if they knew what I knew. They don’t use it to hurt me; they use it because they know no better.
I had someone say this to me a long time ago, “You aren’t that important to have to take everything so personally, so get over yourself.”
Dyer says this more eloquently in the opening quote, “transcend your ego and remain in peace.”
Being easily offended and taking things personally are often manifestations of fear due to an extreme focus on self. If the devil can get us to overreact and take things personally, he wins because we lose our peace.
In his book The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz says this about taking things personally: “When you make it a strong habit not to take anything personally, you avoid many upsets in your life. Your anger, jealousy, and envy will disappear, and even your sadness will disappear if you don’t take things personally.†(pp. 58-59, A Toltec Wisdom Book-The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz)
To Mr. Ruiz, I say Amen. Taking things personally is not only a great way to experience needless suffering but also a great way to keep your focus on yourself, which is where the devil performs his best work.
Solution
Instead of taking things personally, consider and try your best to understand what happened and then turn it over to God…repeat these two steps as often as you need.
Zechariah 12:5 (NIV), “Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong because the Lord Almighty is their God.”
Reflection:
What beliefs, thoughts, and actions cause you to struggle with taking things personally?
Additional Scripture to read and reflect upon:Â James 5:16, Ephesians 4:31-32, Colossians 3:13
P.E.A.C.E.
Jay@EagleLaunch.com
As a teenager in the 80’s the R word was part of the slang. It has taken me years to undue that bad habit along with other words that age me. I ponder my inability to see it as hurtful at that time. Sometimes we use words of culture of the times because everyone else does or we are just ignorant to it–and we need teachers to guide us gently. I do not understand this early choice of mine because for a long time the word “Schizo” used to send me straight to the offended line! Schizo is the worst misnomer of any mental health word=as split personality actually has nothing to do with Schizophrenia. At one point I thought to myself. “Amy, are you going to be offended about the words crazy, psycho, nuts etc etc too?” Where does it end? Then I realized it was my own projection of anger, grief, fear and inability to control and protect my brother.
I also inherited an infuriating Tourettes of the mouth where my mouth is far faster than my brain. LOL. I also realized after reading The Four Agreements (my bible and I give out copies) that it just simply isn’t about ME. Darn it! I realized cancel culture and being offended was somewhat like a plague. If I spent too much time on the news or social media it was sucking me in and I was getting a pay off by being outraged! I especially noticed this during covid. In reality–it was my own fear and lack of control over something very scary. After a time, I came to the conclusion it was absolutely exhausting to be outraged all the time and accomplishing nothing. Taking things personally used to be my biggest challenge–and that said to me–my EGO is large! Ha! I tend to pick my outrage a lot more carefully now and try to keep myself on a brain diet of what negative stuff I am consuming. It is astounding to me the lure of cancel culture. Almost like a siren song….
Thanks for this well-written and very thought-out reply…has anyone ever encouraged you to start a blog or something 🙂