Starting to Untangle from Taking Things Personally

Welcome to Day 7 of the Untangling Draining Habits challenge.

Over the past 7 days, we have been bringing awareness to different habits that cause undue stress or anxiety in our lives. At the end of the each post, we share with you one simple step you can take to start to untangle from the draining habit.

So far we have brought awareness to Overcommitment, Blame, Continual Sense of Lack, Emotional Eating, Pushing Through and Self-Doubt.

Today we are going to focus on the habit of taking things personally.

Draining Habit #7: Taking Things Personally

Don Miguel Ruiz first taught me about this draining habit. In the book the Four Agreements he writes… –

“Whatever happens around you, don’t take it personally… Nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves. All people live in their own dream, in their own mind; they are in a completely different world from the one we live in. When we take something personally, we make the assumption that they know what is in our world, and we try to impose our world on their world.

Even when a situation seems so personal, even if others insult you directly, it has nothing to do with you. What they say, what they do, and the opinions they give are according to the agreements they have in their own minds…Taking things personally makes you easy prey for these predators, the black magicians. They can hook you easily with one little opinion and feed you whatever poison they want, and because you take it personally, you eat it up….”

Then you start to realise, you need to trust yourself and not take things personally.

Challenge: Starting to Untangle from Taking Things Personally –

If you find yourself taking things personally today, remember this wisdom from the Four Agreements –

“As you make a habit of not taking anything personally, you won’t need to place your trust in what others do or say. You will only need to trust yourself to make responsible choices. You are never responsible for the actions of others; you are only responsible for you. When you truly understand this, and refuse to take things personally, you can hardly be hurt by the careless comments or actions of others…”

Feel free to share your progress in the comments section below or on our Facebook page here. If you liked this series, feel free to share it with your colleagues, family and friends.

If you are ready to take yourself on the adventure of getting to know yourself (your true self), why not join the Toolkit? A place where I share tools, inspiration and ideas to live a courageous and openhearted life.