“Don’t Take It Personally”, They Say
But of course, you will.
You’ve heard it. Maybe you’ve even said it.
But is anyone really not taking it personally?
I hesitate to ever say those words.
To me, if it occurs to you that someone might take something to heart, then they probably will. So save it.
In The Four Agreements, one of my top must-reads of all time, Don’t take anything personally is the agreement that has been a decades-long work in progress for me.
It’s a tough one.
The book has such validating insights for making this a life-changing focus, namely that it’s really never about you, no matter how personal it sounds. On my journey, I’ve made a few other observations.
It feels personal because it’s likely an insecurity-so maybe get a grip on that first
When something hurts you and even offends you, the first step is to ask yourself why. Odds are, it’s not because of the actual thing that happened, but because of the emotions it conjured up.
Maybe feelings of being left out, insignificant, or not valued. Those feelings come from somewhere, so a good first step to becoming better at not taking things personally is figuring out why those inner thoughts are there in the…
