“The greatest danger to civilization lay not in the weapons we have at our disposal but in our inability to understand our own selves.” Carl Jung
When we look at defensiveness and how we take things personally, we need to also identify projection.
Oftentimes when someone says something very cruel it is a projection of their own darkness.
When someone says something that makes you feel somewhat defensive it is also our job to identify what it is triggering. Sometimes it takes something for us to awaken to our own darkness. Here are some fast tips for you when you feel defensive.
1. Ask yourself what else the comment or behavior might mean
2. Take comments and criticism as data
3. Realize that you have the power of what you will take into your mind and what you will not.
4. Practice giving space by delaying your response
5. Try to see what the other person might be projecting onto you
6. Ask yourself if what the person has said is true.
7. Consider if what is happening has anything at all to do with you. If it does, own your part of it. But if you just happen to be there at the wrong time put your feelings aside for a moment and think rationally.
8. Ask yourself, “why does this hurt me?”
Remember what people say and think about us is not our business, it is theirs.
Booker T Washington: “I will never allow another man to control my life by allowing him to make me hate him.”
You CAN control your response to injustice.
Follow up on Instagram for daily thoughts and insights. @mind_helm