My buddy, Nate, put up a post about self-deception (see his blog, The Slick Guy, listed on the right). It started me thinking about something that happened today.
I've been fighting off some illness and I was a bit tired today. Being tired leaves me a little vulnerable to my emotions. Anyway, a friend of mine at work, who is usually very friendly, was kind of distant today. I worried over if it was something I did and my vivid imagination came up with some dramatic scenarios. Then I found out (through another coworker) that this friend was very busy on a project in which some errors had been made.
Oh.
So it wasn't all about me, huh?
I need to be alert to the dangers of self-centeredness. Sure, everyone has some degree of this problem, since our only real point of reference is ourselves. But, I need to be aware of it, and extremely cautious about acting on a self-centered assumption. I've been doing that (being aware and cautious, I mean), but today I realized another facet of this. Being alert to how self-centeredness can affect one's mood.
Tricky. But do-able.
1 comment:
I played a trick on myself once. We were supposed to make a commitment to a statement for a day without fail. My statement to myself was to internally respond "this is not personal" with full belief to EVERY SINGLE THING I experienced that day, be it somebody responding to me or to any experience I was having, no matter how illogical it may seem. I can tell you that the most fascinating thoughts and responses emerged out of this exercise!
BRC
Post a Comment