It makes sense that no one else can cause you pain. That's your job.
Interpretation
You are responsible for your own feelings and reactions, not others.
This quote emphasizes the idea that we have control over our own emotional responses and that pain often originates from our perceptions and interpretations rather than from external sources. By recognizing that our reactions are our responsibility, we empower ourselves to change how we respond to what others do or say, fostering a more resilient emotional state.
In practice
In a mental health seminar, to illustrate how our thoughts shape our feelings.
When you stay present with your children, that’s where abundance is. And when you stay out of their business, that’s where everything you deserve in life is. When you’re in presence, there’s no story, and you are abundance. And you come to trust that space so often that you just eventually hang out as that, because there is nothing that can move you out of it, not even a perceived child or a perceived anything.
It is easy to be swept away by some overwhelming feeling, so it's helpful to remember that any stressful feeling is like a compassionate alarm clock that says, "You're caught in the dream."
We don't attach to people or to things; we attach to uninvestigated concepts that we believe to be true in the moment.
An unquestioned mind is the world of suffering.
Hurt feelings or discomfort of any kind cannot be cause by another person. No one outside me can hurt me. That’s not a possibility. It’s only when I believe a stressful thought that I get hurt. And I’m the one who’s hurting me by believing what I think. This is very good news, because it means that I don’t have to get someone else to stop hurting me. I’m the one who can stop hurting me. It’s within my power.
I am a lover of what is, not because I'm a spiritual person, but because it hurts when I argue with reality.
Today you are you! That is truer than true!
I once heard someone say that prayer is more than words. It's a stance you take, a position you claim. You throw your body against the door to keep the demons from advancing and stay put until they go away.
Attachment constrains our vision so that we are not able to see things from a wider perspective.
Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Do not despair if the answers don't come immediately. Some answers are only revealed with the passage of time.
Any man who afflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood.
Idealists foolish enough to throw caution to the winds have advanced mankind and have enriched the world.
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