The peace of non-resistance. You are not strong to fuss and fume. Did you think you were? It is not strength to protest. It is not strength to huff and puff. It is not strength to judge. From peace comes strength.
Outrage is not strength. Superiority is not strength. Self-righteous anger is not strength. Rising above is strength.
Quietude is strength. What is it really that you have to defend and protect?
If you would like to live in a peaceful world, then peace must abound.
Who can walk over your emotions without your consent? If others seem to make you dance to their tune, who has acquiesced? Who has given permission? Who has gone along with someone else’s say-so?
Again, I say, what do you have to defend?
Defending is not peace nor is it defense. It is conciliation. Having to defend is a form of weakness, not strength, beloveds.
You know you make errors in your interpretation. You interpret that someone insults you. Even if someone does, you don’t have to bow to their insult. You are not insulted when it rains or there is a hurricane, even when you wanted sunshine and blue skies.
Because others have difficulties, you don’t have to make their difficulties yours.
Look, here’s the thing. Life does not have to be orchestrated the way you would like, nor does any other person have to be as you would like him to be. Everyone has free will. You can despair of another’s proclivities all you want, but to what purpose? Save your breath. You are not the orchestrator of the world. You are the orchestrator of yourself. You are the diviner of yourself. It is not up to you to decide the cards that other people play. Somehow you may have thought you are the dealer.
Give an inch, beloveds. This does not make you less. It makes you more. Who is the rich man? The one who is irate or the one who stays on an even keel? It is not your business to set everyone straight. You are not the governor of other people. Everyone has every right to live his life as he chooses. And so do you. And so do you. It isn’t an accomplishment for you to be affronted. Anyone can do that. Anyone can erupt.
It is a huge event when you come to the place where you do not have to take offense. This is indeed accomplishing something. Not taking offense doesn’t mean you are letting yourself be walked on. It means that you take responsibility for yourself. It means you stride across the Universe. It means you are the opposite of being taken advantage of. You are beneficent to yourself and, therefore, to another.
No one has rights over you, nor do you have rights over others. If you are to teach anyone a lesson, it is yourself. If you must set anyone straight, it is yourself. You are your own business. You are not to dance to another’s tune, nor are others to dance to yours.
Because someone may yell at you doesn’t mean you are obligated to yell back. Because someone is angry with you doesn’t mean you have to keep up in your anger. Life does not have to be even.
You may like to think of yourself as cool. Then be cool rather than hot under the collar.
According to the world, no one is perfect. And, yet, time and time again, you expect perfection from others and deny your own strength and your own free will.