Today's
quotation:
In any conflict, we can defend ourselves or we
can learn. Defense has made the world unlivable. What
would happen
if we chose to learn instead? Instead of
saying, "You
frighten me," what if we said, "You interest me"?
Leslie Black
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Today's
Meditation:
In
most cultures, much more value is placed upon the person
or group that comes out "victorious" whenever
conflict arises. We tend to see the victors as
stronger and more capable, and we tend to trust them
more. But with any victory comes a loser, and a lost
opportunity to learn more about other ways of looking at
the world.
If
we don't feel defensive all the time, there's no need to
defend ourselves constantly. If someone insults me
and I see the insult as a reflection of that person rather
than something I have to defend myself against, I'll have
the chance to learn just what about the person has led him
or her to insult me. And as I learn more about such
causes in people's lives, I can learn better how to help
such people get past stages in their lives in which they
feel they need to insult others in order to "build
up" their own self-esteem.
Defense
is a reaction to which we don't tend to put much
thought. Defense is the easiest way to respond to
conflict, and the easiest way of anything rarely is the
best way. If we choose to learn about whatever it is
that's threatening us, be it disease, other people, the
unknown, change, or anything else, we can help ourselves
to grow in ways that we couldn't imagine otherwise.
And
as we learn more, we also may become better teachers.
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