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.
3 comments:
I think I've had very similar experiences myself. with the whole, this person is acting differently, so it must be me right? Once in a while, I might mention it to them, and most of the time when I would bring it up they are shocked I thought such a thing.
Oops
wouldn't it be great if we could step back from our first person point of view and see the big picture?
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
Wow! So easy to do! I've definitly had the situation where someone is not acting normally and I automatically assume it must be me. We are such Egocentric beings sometimes aren't we. At least you know you're not the only one with this problem! ;-)
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