A short podcast mini-chapter by Brian Johnson (from A Philosopher's Notes) teaching why we should not take others’ opinions personally. Johnson explains that others’ reactions reflect their internal state (not us), illustrates this with a ‘same person, different day’ example, and offers Deepak Chopra’s repeated affirmation (“I am totally independent of the good or bad opinion of others”) as a practical practice; episode closes with promotional links to the book and newsletter.
You're listening to Optimize with Bryan Johnson. More Wisdom in Less Time this is a mini chapter from Brian's book A Philosopher's Notes. You can find it on Amazon.
Don't Take It Personally Part du Don Miguel Ruiz talks about this idea as well. In fact, it it's the second of his four agreements. Don't take anything personally. Why shouldn't we take anything personally? Because what someone thinks of us in any given moment says a lot more about their state than it does ours. In Ruiz's words, nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves. Let's think about it. Imagine interacting with the same person in two different situations. In the first scenario, the person had an awesome day. They slept nine hours, landed a promotion at work, and won the lottery. They're feeling great. How do you think they're going to treat us? Probably pretty well right now. Same person this time. They had a really bad night of sleep, lost their job, had a car accident, and didn't eat all day long. Not in such a good mood. How do you think they're going to treat us now? Probably nowhere near as well as when they're rested, happy, and all that jazz, right? The important thing to note here is that we were exactly the same in both instances. But if we base our opinion of ourselves on how someone else treats us, we're in trouble. P.S. countless other teachers talk about this as well. Deepak Chopra encourages us to remember the power of this wisdom with a little mantra I've said thousands of times. He says, I am totally independent of the good or bad opinion of others. I am totally independent of the good or bad opinion of others. I am totally independent of the good or bad opinion of others. I am totally independent of the good or bad opinion of others. I am totally independent of the good or bad opinion of others. I am totally independent of the good or bad opinion of others. I am totally independent of the good or bad opinion of others. One more time I am totally independent of the good or bad opinion of others. Ah, try it out. If you find yourself a little bit too concerned about what other people are thinking about you, it's quite refreshing.
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