The comedian Ricky Gervais said something in a recent article that grabbed my attention. He was talking about his hosting the Golden Globe last year and how folks were bent out of shape about some of his more colorful jokes and routines.
He said, “offense is not given it’s taken.”
How brilliant is that? It’s also the stone cold truth. Even if a person is intending to hurt you with their words, you still have a choice as to whether you will be offended. The choice is ALWAYS yours.
No matter how much we may want to say some version of (as I heard a woman passionately say to another on TV recently), “you made me feel horrible about myself,” it simply is not the case.
No one makes another person do a thing or feel a thing: There is always a choice to be made.
So consider this the next time you begin to be tempted to slide into a pout about how someone has treated you badly. What a person does or says can have impact on your choice about what to feel or do in response, or it can NOT; it’s all up to you.
When we are busy trying to improve our self, create wonderful new powerful habits (like habits that help) and basically live life at a level of peace, productivity and joy, the cost is extremely high when we choose to be derailed into despair or even slight annoyance because others act up.
Think of the cost of your choice when next you have to decide. I hope you choose to stay on task, take no offense and stick to your path and plan for the day and your life.
Wishing you an abundance of peace, joy and excellent choices!
♥~
P.S. Oh and did I mention, the less offense we choose to take, the less we have to forgive at a later date. How cool is that?! 🙂
