A while back, someone, who I consider a friend, publically gave me unsolicited advice (criticism) about what I was doing online. Being an author and someone who is online quite a bit spreading the word about my book, Awaken Your Power, I understand that there will be some people who will not always agree with my point of view. I am ok with that. My message is only targeted to those who are attracted to what I am saying. But I have to be honest, it affected me when it came from someone unexpected – like a friend. I think “disappointment” is the real feeling I felt.
So for a short period of time, I felt let down by this friend. Then I re-read chapter 11 (the happiness chapter) of my own book, Awaken Your Power, where it says that we are responsible for our own happiness. You see, we self-help authors are human too, we still have to live the wisdom we write in our own books. I wasn’t following mine at that moment. So then I realized that my friend’s public comments, although rude and out-of-place, were of no physical harm to me. I was simply letting my ego get the best of me. Then I decided to consciously use another law in my book, the law of relativity, to change how I thought about this situation in order to change how I felt inside my own body. I changed my opinion by realizing my ego wasn’t worth getting upset about anything and I acknowledged that my friend has the right to his own opinion about what I am doing. Wayne Dyer said, “What someone else is doing is their business, what you are doing is yours.” This again helped me. Then I simply realized that there are always going to be people who are going to want to tell me how I should behave, feel, or believe, but the truth is my opinion is the only one that matters. I am the one who benefits or suffers from manifestations of my own thoughts, feelings, words, and actions. So I did change how I thought and it allowed me to change how I felt.
I realized that the feelings of disappointment, anger, frustration, ect… that I was feeling for my friend at the moment were being FELT inside my own body. Then I realized something that I guess I had always subconsciously knew:
The feelings we hold for someone else we also hold for ourselves.
This is because our feelings are inside of us. They are us. For us to be mad, hurt, or upset at someone else we have to feel those feelings inside our own bodies. This is why FORGIVENESS (p. 138 of Awaken Your Power) is so important. Forgiveness is not about letting the other person off the hook; it’s about letting go of negative emotions that are not in your best interest. So I forgave my friend and just brushed his comments off as his way of expressing himself. The real power happened when I regained control of my happiness by choosing not to let his words bother me any longer.
Life has once again provided me with a very valuable situation I was presented with a challenging life experience to grow as a person and further my personal quest to become the master of my own mind. This journey is proving to be a long road, but it has also been an amazing ride and I’m looking forward to all the great experiences still yet to come. I know one thing for sure, regardless of the circumstance, if I have the right attitude and correct point of view each experience will either be a successful venture or a valuable learning experience. Either way, I win!
So I hope you will join me by making your own personal commitment to mastering your own mind. All you need to do is to evaluate the thoughts and feelings in your own head at any given moment to see if they are in your own best interest. If they aren’t then you can change how you think about that subject to change how you feel.
Until next time,
Joe Rapisarda
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