Have You Been Criticized Lately?

Criticism

When someone shoots an arrow of criticism at us, it is really harmless. It is our pride that puts the sting on it. Our pride makes it hurt. What they say is only a thought that they made up at the moment, and spoke it out loud. It doesn’t mean it is true.

When I was teaching self-esteem classes to the grammar school kids, we used as an example: “Will you be offended if I call you a pinetree?” Just because someone says something, doesn’t mean it is true, unless you accept it and take it in.
It’s our egotism that feels hurt when another’s self-assertion crashes into our path. We may feel wounded by our own faults, but we can hardly afford to be miserable because of the faults of others.

A courtier told Constantine that a mob had broken the head of his statue with stones. The emperor lifted his hands to his head, saying: “It is very surprising, but I don’t feel hurt in the least.”

There are millions of people with different opinions, different ambitions, different tastes, and different loves. Each person has a different history, culture, character and upbringing.

How can an opinion of someone so different from us be the truth? There is no way they can see inside us to know of a surety what is real or not.

What one sees on the screen of life, is projected from inside their own mind. So if someone criticizes you about some thing, realize that this comment only comes from the filmstrip that is playing within their own mind.

For you to be offended by it, only means that you must see some truth in it within yourself. It is your pride and ego that is upset by the comment, so you become angry with that person.

Being upset and angry at someone else, is passing the buck, because you don’t want to take responsibility for your own life or behavior. It was said 2000 years ago, “Take the log out of your own eye, before you try to take the tiny spot out of another’s.”

Look to yourself before you criticize another. Have the smallest expectation of others while holding onto the largest patience. Take a lesson from the criticism, maybe there is a grain of truth in it.

When we are angry or resentful towards another person it is a vicious circle, because it ties us to that person. It drains our energy, because part of us is always focused on that unresolved situation. If you continually keep the past alive, you aren’t free to move on.

You may learn much about yourself from your friends and enemies. Every encounter, however unpleasant, offers a great opportunity to learn something about ourselves—if we are open to it. Look beyond the messenger to the message itself.

When you forgive and forget, you free up 100 percent of your energy for constructive creating what you really want. To get more details on FORGIVING, get this special report: Importance of Forgiveness