This weekend’s yoga jaunt touched upon one of my favorite reads; “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz. One of the fabulous four lessons is to not take things personally. It’s simple; makes a heck of a lot of sense. There is absolutely nothing to gain from taking things personally. Its ego centric, nerve wracking and puts us in a position of reading someone’s mind. EVEN if that person is acting with ill will that is their karma we can avoid welcoming into our psyche.
As I was laying in Savasana (if you haven’t tried this lovely corpse pose you haven’t lived; pun intended) I started to think of the sentence:
TAKE things personally.
The verb is powerful. It sounds greedy, doesn’t it? Sounds selfish. However by just changing the verb you can alter the sentiment entirely. How about this for size?
GIVE things personally.
The act of giving is so powerful. Give with your heart. Give without want. The best days I have aren’t filled with want or glutton. Those days where you just smile and make jokes and hold the door for someone, listen to someone, care for someone, watch a child…Find the twenty ways you can dial up silliness.
Next time the blood starts to boil, change the thermostat. Take some breathes. Put yourself back in check and reboot to a softer side of perspective.
Don’t take things personally. Give things personally.
