We get impacted by other people’s opinion about us and our beliefs are shaped by what society collectively thinks we are.
But deep down, only an individual knows what the ‘self’ is made of and others can only guess. Interestingly, we ignore the real self or truth to believe in the collective lie which is a perception, just to fit in and waste our life indefinitely over the vicious cycle of judgment that only results in dissatisfaction.
What we do not try is to look inside and discover the marvellous and unique person each one of us are. We ignore our true callings and nature because they don’t make sense to other people. By doing this we allow the criticism and judgment of people to fill the void that we created by not examining ourselves properly. All that seeps inside us is a series of lies that we believe our lives are made of.
As the time goes by, we even stop making the efforts because we don’t know where to start. After a certain age, toxic habits are already formed and will power to change them and get near our true selves weakens. When regrets pile up and the age is not on the side, it often becomes the case of missed opportunity to discover life in its true sense.
While the time is still in one’s favour, one must have an inner dialogue to uncover the real us. When we do that, we do not get influenced by other people’s opinion about us. Even when words are aimed like arrows at us, they lose their impact. Once we know what we are capable of, criticism can be taken in best spirit and life will look like a journey worth undertaking with joy and happiness.
All of us have opinion about people in general. We are highly sensitive about opinions people have about us but care little when commenting on others. This is the reason an adverse remark by someone immediately sends us in the shell and we wait for the right time to avenge. In the process, a chain of negative emotions is generated. It’s rarely that we assess the damage they do to us. Based on our experience we have seen that when we are busy working on a good idea a bad memory from the past or the intent to harm someone immediately breaks the tempo.
In the process, all the efforts in right direction are wasted and we end up being the real loser. This is the reason all the saints advise us to be mindful of our thoughts. Negative thoughts harm us first before others.
The author is a journalist and aspires to become good human being by observing the people around him. He is also co-founder of TopLeadIndia.com