Reaching Beyond Yourself: Throwing Away The Mind
Reaching beyond yourself means having compassion for someone when they don’t ‘deserve’ it.
It means moving past the fact that you’re right and that your feelings are legitimate in favor of being kind to someone else.
In short, it means overcoming your ego — the desire to assert yourself, to prove that you are right.
For example, imagine that you have a chance to yell at someone that should be yelled at. That you have the opportunity to be angry, to rightfully yell at someone and tear them apart.
That this person deserves it.
But you don’t. You resist.
This is reaching beyond yourself.
Why? Because your mind (your ego) is telling you that you are right, that this person deserves to be yelled at. That your anger is legitimate and justified.
But instead you choose to ‘throw away your mind.’ To move past what your mind is telling you about being right and legitimate. To resist being angry and humiliating this person.
You instead choose to really see the person in front of you, to be kind and compassionate.
This is reaching beyond yourself. Because being right and legitimate doesn’t bring you to the place beyond yourself, to real growth. Choosing kindness and compassion, when it’s most difficult to do so, does.
The Rabbis say that it takes the earth and sky to hold back from being angry. Moreover, they say that when you insult someone you take away twenty-two years of their life.
Thus, if you can overcome anger — especially when you are completely justified — and resist insulting someone, then you are reaching beyond yourself. And you’ve grown far more than it would have taken you to grow in 10 years.
It doesn’t mean that you don’t talk about the mistake or the wrongdoing.
It does mean that you resist the urge to assert yourself and self-righteousness, that you resist the urge to tear someone apart — not because they don’t deserve it, but because you’re connected to something deeper, something higher.
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Culled from: Medium.