Don't Take it Personal!

Hi There,

As they say life is 10% what we make it and 90% how we take it. So however you take it, don't take it personal :-)

Have a nice weekend!!!

Cheers,
Shalini
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If others are upset with you or say something bad, it's their problem, not yours. Do not allow the thoughts, and perceptions of others to determine your self-worth and value. Don Miguel Ruiz says that as we grow up, we are taught to believe all sorts of things as true. These ideas involve how we see ourselves and our world. When we accept these concepts and ideas as true, we are in essence agreeing with them. He calls this process "Domestication".

He says, "As children, we didn't have the opportunity to choose our beliefs, but we agreed with the information that was passed to us. . . As soon as we agree, we believe it, and this is called faith. To have faith is to believe unconditionally." The problem is that so often the beliefs we agree to are lies – lies that say that we are unworthy, ugly, or evil. He says that "If we can see it is our agreements that rule our own life, and we don't like the dream of our life, we need to change the agreements."

In order to facilitate this process, his book outlines four new agreements that we can make with ourselves. The second of these agreements is "Don't take anything personally." The author talks about this agreement by saying, "Nothing other people do is because of you. . . All people live in their own dream, in their own mind; they are in a completely different world from the one we live in. . . Others are going to have their own opinion according to their belief system, so nothing they think about me is really about me, but it is about them."

Choose to make the decision to not take what others said and did personally. It will give such a sense of freedom and power. By not allowing yourself to take the actions of others too personally, you are taking control of your life. Honestly look at what is said and done, and if you see that there is no validity to it, disregard it. You know yourself better than anyone else, so you know if something is true, real, and valid. Don't promote a lie by giving it any validity through agreeing to the pain.

Even if the intent was cruel, make sure to examine it to see if there's any truth in it. Then you can decide what needs to be changed and be grateful for the lesson. If there's no truth to it, realize that it will affect you only if you give it permission to do so. Don't let their action define you. Only you can define you.

- from Strategies4Happiness

Are you Gossiping?

A woman repeated a bit of gossip about a friend. Within a few days the whole community knew the story. The person it concerned was deeply hurt and offended. Later the woman responsible for spreading the rumor learned that it was completely untrue. She was very sorry and went to a wise old sage to find out what she could do to repair the damage.
"Go to the marketplace," he said, "and purchase a chicken, and have it killed. Then on your way home, pluck its feathers and drop them one by one along the road."
Although surprised by this advice, the woman did what she was told.
The next day the wise man said, "Now go and collect all those feathers you dropped yesterday and bring them back to me."
The woman followed the same road, but to her dismay, the wind had blown the feathers all away. After searching for hours, she returned with only three in her hand.
"You see," said the old sage, "it's easy to drop them, but it's impossible to get them back. So it is with gossip. It doesn't take much to spread a lie, but once you do, you can never completely undo the wrong."

Lesson:
Well we can always participate in loose talks to curb our boredom. But when it comes to your friends its not worth it.

Source: Internet