When I say to you to never mind what other people think of you or whether other people understand you or listen to you — when I say what matters is that you listen and you understand others — I am not making you less important. I am directing you to what you can do. You cannot make someone listen to you or appreciate you, but you can listen to others and you can appreciate.
Do not put your energy into making others what you want them to be. They are not your concern. You are your concern.
Your responsibility can only go as far as it can go.
I give you practical advice.
You have a certain territory that you rule. And that territory is yourself.
Certainly you are and should be as important as anyone else, but your importance is not your emphasis. Your emphasis is how you respect and treat others. Anything less is ego. You don't need your ego strengthened. You have too much to do in the world than to occupy yourself with what is insignificant.
You do not need your significance proved. You do not need a certificate of significance from anyone. Your worth is not dependent upon what anyone or the whole world thinks of you. Your significance is far greater than that.
How you respond matters. What you do matters. What others say and do is a trifle.
You cannot spend your life trying to swat flies. You cannot spend your life on what other people are doing or saying. You have your life to spend, not theirs.
Redirect your attention.
You are a consoler to the universe. You are not the one to be consoled.
As in marriage, sure, it should be 50/50, but you can't count up what someone else does. You can only give. Don't be a counter in the world. That would limit you, and you are not to be limited.
Your greatness is not dependent upon what someone else does.
All the plaudits of the world can go up in smoke. What others think of you is too little to lean on. What you think is another story. Let your strength come from what you think, not what others think. Do not make too much of what others think. Whether they slight you or make too much of you is not your concern. Do you understand what I am saying?
I don't say that you don't matter. I say you matter a great deal. I say you matter too much to be concerned with what others think of you. You are more than a reflector in the universe. Be the original light that shines.
Never mind the tribute the world makes to you. Pro or con, it is a passing thing.
If you play in a band, you are concerned with the music from the instrument you play. You pay attention to the sounds that you make. The music the other members play affects the whole, but you have your part of the whole to take care of. You can only pluck the strings of your own guitar.
You have dominion over yourself. Yet how are you going to best affect the world?
I tell you to put attention on what you can do. At the same time, I tell you to take your attention off yourself. I tell you to put your attention on bigger than you and bigger than those around you. Your vision must be great. You play your part, and you play for Me, not for the throngs, for, after all, Who is your true Audience?