No One Can Make You Feel the Way You Feel

Thinking Queerly: 52-Weeks of Critical Reflections On Liberating Humanity, Week 5

I cannot make you angry.

A politician cannot make you angry.

A friend, your partner, or your dog cannot make you happy.

Only you can choose your feelings based on your behaviours and beliefs.

No one can make you feel the way you feel.

It’s worth repeating…

Your feelings are your own, and they are based on your unconscious patterns and beliefs.

Seeing the truth of this requires self-compassion and mindfulness.

Self-compassion allows you to feel kindness towards yourself to gently consider why you are feeling the way you are, in response or reaction to a situation in life.

Mindfulness is the practice of witnessing what is happening in the moment of your feelings and to question your patterns of behaviour before choosing how to respond.

When you clearly see and accept the truth and fragility of one’s ego for its identification with external things, like possessions, you will see this only serves to create separation from others.

The ego expresses, me, my, and mine; my rightness versus your wrongness.

Compassion, on the other hand, expresses acceptance, connection, and care.

Today’s Invitation

Listen to the podcast and ask yourself,

“What was most helpful from today's episode and how can I apply it in my life?"

Perhaps take a moment to journal your answer, right now. Let me know how this went for you. Leave me a comment, below.

Image credit: Kevin Hodgson