How do you interact with someone who takes everything personally?

13 Feb How do you interact with someone who takes everything personally?

Question:

How do you interact with someone who takes everything personally while remaining true to yourself?

Don Miguel’s Answer:

If someone takes things personally it’s not our problem. It’s not up to us to impose this agreement on anybody else. All humans are artists, and all artists have the right to create their art in whatever way they want.

It’s important to remember that not taking anything personally is an agreement that we’ve made with ourselves. If we have the awareness that someone takes everything personally and if we don’t like it, we don’t have to be around that person. That’s always a choice we can make, but we don’t have to judge and punish someone for failing to live up to an agreement that person never made. Instead, we need to respect that person’s art.

Many times when we begin to live by The Four Agreements, we want everybody around us to do the same thing. We want to impose what we believe onto other people before they even know The Four Agreements. If we become a fanatic about following The Four Agreements and we judge and punish others for failing to keep an agreement they never made, we corrupt The Four Agreements.

Just think about creating your own art, your own story. In your story, you can live your life either as a hero or as a victim. When you’re the hero, you overcome whatever circumstance happens around you. You will not be victimized by the circumstances in your life. Yes, you can be hurt, you can fall, but you will always stand up and keep going. That’s what makes you the hero in your own story. But if you’re the victim, then you just feel sorry for yourself and you complain about everything that happens around you.

Once you have the awareness that you don’t have to be the victim, you can change your position and become the hero. You can face any adversity, overcome the adversity, and enjoy your life because that is the purpose of your life – to enjoy it.