Stick And Stones May Break My Bones –

But Names Will Never Hurt Me

The Christian Recorder of March 1862, a publication of the African Methodist Episcopal Church

(“Sticks and Stones” is an English languagechildren’s rhyme. It persuades the child victim of name-calling to ignore the taunt, to refrain from physical retaliation, and to remain calm and good-natured.)

Remember this from your childhood, powerful words that many of us seem to have ignored. We let Other People’s Opinions (OPO) affect us and in some cases lead us to ruin.

Other People’s Opinion’s  Of  Me Is None Of My Business

Another gem we ignore, there are pages of similar quotes, yet day in and day out we listen to what other people tell us, what we should do, how we should behave. There is a lot of shoulds

101 of Personal growth;

Delete the should file

Upgrade our “Who Do We Listen To” file and begin to live our own lives.

We are the only one’s who know what is really best for us and that little secret is hidden within us. All we need to do is listen to our own inner voice, the positive one and avoid listening to the negative programming that originated in other people’s thoughts.

This is sometime hard fact to grasp, No One Can Offend Us, we can only take offence. It is our reaction that is the real issue.  What people do or say about us only becomes a problem when we validate it by engaging in their beliefs. When we stay focussed to our core beliefs, our primary goal and our vision, nothing can make us deviate.

Next time you react remember, You Reacted. You made the choice to disturb your inner peace and give your focus to something you do not desire. Stop blaming and take ownership and retire and pension off the old victim mentality. It has passed it’s use by date. Being a victim is self serving and a act of personal disrespect.  It emphasises your unworthiness and limits your ability to grow.

If playing victim works, at least be honest about it. Whatever  rewards that we preserve we will gain will quickly become a stain on our being, then we project that image into our outer world and pollute our own and other people’s lives.

Sometimes the only time we learn is  to be figuratively be run over by a truck. Even then some of us are so resistant to our good we still do not get it.

Change is the only constant in our lives and we kick and scream resisting the obvious. When the outside world begins to display our resistance we then go about blaming. This is the coolest game in town, pass the buck, make the problem someone else’s, validate our worthlessness and reap the rewards.

Please Take Offence at anything I have written, go ahead, disturb your inner peace, make me the Controlling Influence in your Life. Give away your power.

Can you see the point i am making?

No One can control us unless we engage.

Opt out, stay centred and see the humour in the game.

Become who you are meant to be.

Next time you feel like taking offence, choose not to and maintain your equilibrium.

Herb Cohen was spot on when he made the quip  “Care, But Not That Much”.