When we allow others to be who they are, without having to change them or get them to believe what we believe, we actually give ourselves more freedom to be who we are.
What calls to us to change in others is merely a reflection of what we desire to change within ourselves.
It might not seem directly applicable, yet in some way the very things that annoy us about someone else, that irk us about someone else, that cause us to cringe when we think about this other person, are the very same hidden dark corners of our psyche that we feel are untenable.
We usually think it’s all about the other person. It’s not. It’s always about us. If we didn’t have that irritating thorn in our own side that causes us pain when someone else reflects it back to us, then those traits would not annoy us at all.
It is only because those characteristics hit home and ring true within us, that we have a reaction at all.
No, it’s not about them. Yes, it is always about us.
Maybe not directly, maybe not in the same way or about the thing, yet it is there, somewhere, lurking in the recesses of our mind.
Now that we know that, can we be a bit more compassionate for others?
