27 August 2009

Why Take Offense?

The second of the Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz:

"Don't Take Anything Personally"

I was on the NYC subway one night, forced to listen to one side of a cell phone conversation. The subway was elevated outside, so perfect opportunity to use some of those free minutes! Yikes!

Anyway, the sister was hollering at another sister about being offended that this dude thought she was 28 years old!

"How dare he! Do I look like I'm that old?" she shrieked.

I would love it if someone would offend me like that ~ but I digress!

My first thought was why was she taking the offense. And this is the topic of this post, which ties in with the second agreement ~ not to take anything personally.

If I handed you a bottle of poison (no, not the cologne, please keep up!), and you took it and not only took it, but drank it. Who dies, me or you? No, this is not a trick question.

I handed it to you. You could have refused to take it. Not only did you take it, you ingested it, meaning you made it about you. That was your choice.

You also have the choice to say, "No thank you!" Ever heard of those words? Well, use them and relieve yourself of the drama. Then I won't have to listen to one-sided cell phone conversations on the New York City subway at 11 o'clock at night about being offended.

Just don't take the offense. Enough said.

Coach Carolyn

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with don't take anything personally. Along with that, becoming a woman of purpose, wouldn't we all love to be women of purpose! It starts here caring about more than your status, to have purpose you have to already have confidence in yourself, if you care enough to read this you probably do... so whatever you were offended about drop it and move on to becoming a better you. Focus on things farther ahead than what ppl think of you, because you're past that.