Emma, on her way to school this morning. She is becoming more and more of a positive force for the world.
I am not sure how we got into the conversation, but when I heard my sixteen-year-old daughter echoing the words of Don Miguel Ruiz in his landmark book The Four Agreements I knew I had somehow managed to succeed in my “being a decent parent” task for the day.
Emma was saying something like this, “People need to learn not to take things personally! When people do stuff, it isn’t about you at all. It’s all about them, not you!”
I was driving at the time so I managed to not pass out from sheer delight.
I was amazed, nonetheless.
Somehow my sixteen-year-old daughter had managed to understand and integrate a lesson most adults still can’t figure out, myself included.
I agreed with her. “Yeah, like that time last week when I yelled at you like a maniac? That was because I was freaked out about life. It really didn’t have anything to do with you, it had to do with me being freaked out about myself.”
Check this out for yourself. You know how it is: you gossip about someone’s inability to get things done but what you are really saying is completely different.
I know nine times out of ten I am really saying “I am horrible at getting things done but at least I’m better than SHE is”… pause… “Well, at least in this instance.”
Don Miguel Ruiz says it like this: “Don't Take Anything Personally.
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering.”
My sixteen-year-old daughter, precious and filled with the same goofy, angsty, over-the-top emotional roller coaster as any young woman involved in the creative arts knows this and really knows this.
What stops you from being as wise as Emma is?
What are you willing to do to become equally (or more) wise?
====
Julie Jordan Scott is a writer, creative life coach, speaker, performance poet, Mommy and mixed-media artist whose Writing Camps and Writing Playgrounds permanently transform people's creative lives. Watch for the announcement of new programs coming Spring, 2014 and beyond.
Check out the links below to follow her on a bunch of different social media channels, especially if you find the idea of a Word-Love Party bus particularly enticing.
Please stay in touch: Follow me on Twitter: @JulieJordanScot
Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook. (Thank you!)
Follow on Instagram
And naturally, on Pinterest, too!
