(no subject)
You know I'm fast discovering that most of the sources of our anger and those things we resent we can often find within ourselves. I can think of several examples.
For one, I was reading a story about four Zen monks whom resolved to meditate in silence for four days without speaking. At the end of the first day one of their candles started to go out. One of the monks said "Look the candle's going out!" A second monk asked "Why did you speak just now?" A third monk said "I can't believe you two are having a conversation!" The fourth monk then said "Ha! I was the only one not to speak!"
A second example I kept seeing constantly pop up at work with emails. Often times mass emails would be sent out to a large group of people. Some people would inevitably write out replies and then "Reply to all" on the email list. Well a few people would get angry about that and write an email saying "Do not reply to all" and then would reply to all. Then other people would react and say "Do not send out an email saying not to reply to all by replying to all" and then would reply to all themselves. It's amusing how I can easily amass 100 emails in my inbox from people constantly going back and forth saying "Do not reply to all" while replying to all themselves.
Third example is personal. Every time I get in a fit and think my husband's not showing me enough affection or making enough romantic gestures I have to think back and think of how often I do the same for him, which is often times about as much as he does. Every time I complain that he always hands the baby off to me he points out that I do the same thing to him just as often as he does it to me.
I wonder just how many of the things we think are all someone else's fault or are horrible traits in someone else are things that we do ourselves personally. Sometimes reflection is a good thing.
For one, I was reading a story about four Zen monks whom resolved to meditate in silence for four days without speaking. At the end of the first day one of their candles started to go out. One of the monks said "Look the candle's going out!" A second monk asked "Why did you speak just now?" A third monk said "I can't believe you two are having a conversation!" The fourth monk then said "Ha! I was the only one not to speak!"
A second example I kept seeing constantly pop up at work with emails. Often times mass emails would be sent out to a large group of people. Some people would inevitably write out replies and then "Reply to all" on the email list. Well a few people would get angry about that and write an email saying "Do not reply to all" and then would reply to all. Then other people would react and say "Do not send out an email saying not to reply to all by replying to all" and then would reply to all themselves. It's amusing how I can easily amass 100 emails in my inbox from people constantly going back and forth saying "Do not reply to all" while replying to all themselves.
Third example is personal. Every time I get in a fit and think my husband's not showing me enough affection or making enough romantic gestures I have to think back and think of how often I do the same for him, which is often times about as much as he does. Every time I complain that he always hands the baby off to me he points out that I do the same thing to him just as often as he does it to me.
I wonder just how many of the things we think are all someone else's fault or are horrible traits in someone else are things that we do ourselves personally. Sometimes reflection is a good thing.