You are the arbiter of your own happiness or unhappiness. You may not yet be at that place within where you can allow yourself to be happy under many situations. You just are not. You may have never been. You may have always been bruited around by the winds that blow.
You may not believe you will ever be in a great place of equanimity. Yet, will you admit to yourself, that you can be closer to the ideal, and, that by getting closer, you will bless yourself, your family, and the whole world?
Tell Me, dear ones, what can be worse than carrying deadweight along with you into the hereafter?
Start with just a few instances. If someone disappoints you, you don't have to be crestfallen. You don't have to be upset. You don't have to disown the person. You don't have to anything.
If someone doesn't like the way you dress, is that your problem? If someone doesn't like you or doesn't seem to like you, why make that a federal case? You don't have to carry someone on your back, nor do you have to turn your back on anyone either.
To love one another doesn't mean you have to be everyone's great pal. Follow your happiness. Drop off unhappiness. Let go of it. What do you want it for?
If you had noxious materials in your house, you would get them out of your house. You would get them out right away. Now, get rid of what has been obnoxious to you in your mind. You don't need it, so why keep it?
When I was reported to have said: "Vengeance is Mine," I was saying that vengeance is not yours, not yours at all. I did not mean that I am high and mighty in the sense that I will wreak vengeance. Unless love is considered vengeance, I take none. Vengeance is a trap. Don't get caught up in it.
Yes, you would wish you were otherwise, yet it remains that you react to outside events. Yes, if a car horn suddenly honks at you, you are startled. Yes, if a car runs you down, your body hurts. Yes, you may be angry as well. Yes, if someone hurts your child, you may feel anger to the injurer for the rest of your life. And, yes, it is possible that you can pass by the arousal of negativity altogether.
If your child has been hurt, it is reprehensible. Must you, in addition, carry the burden of directing hateful thoughts to someone from then on? To whose benefit? Certainly not yours, not to the offender, and not to your child. It is to no one's benefit.
You wouldn't carry that burden unless you thought you were justified. Justified is beside the point. Carrying resentment is a poor choice.
When someone, let's say, does a kindness to you, and you might see it as an affront, you feel offended as you would if they had intended to offend you. Whatever you may think – your thoughts are powerful.
All pain, hurts of various kinds, slights, denouncements, unfairness do not have to plague you. You don't have to stay there with them. Let go of them. Set yourself free. No matter how offensive, set yourself free. Let resentment go.
There is that refrain again. Let go. Let go. Why keep a grudge close to you? From a serious situation to a less serious one, there is no good reason at all. If someone is really venomous, where is the possible good of your drinking of another's venom?
Abandon negativity. Abandon the thoughts that catch negativity in your craw.