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How To Stop Taking Things Personally
How To Stop Taking Things Personally
I used to be super self-conscious and sensitive. I just thought that was the way the universe made me, but it turns out I was wrong. I was taking things personally that weren’t really personal!
It used to be so easy to hurt my feelings but now it’s very difficult to do.
My first insight about this came when I read a little book called, “The Slug Manual.” The basic idea is that when someone says something hurtful to you it’s like offering you a slug. You can either take the slug and own their hurtful comment or refuse the slug and let them keep it for themselves. This is a very simplified version of something I read over thirty years ago, but it stuck with me.
I live in Oregon where we have banana slugs. Those suckers can get monstrous. I’ve seen them in all sizes from a couple of inches long to almost a foot. They are slimy. If you mistakenly touch one, the slime sticks to your hand and you practically need kryptonite to get it off.
My daughter was eight when she warned her uncle not to touch one as he excitedly reached for it. He, of course, ignored her and was thrilled to capture a creature in nature and pet it. Hours later he was still wiping his hands on his pants, on the grass, on tree bark and rubbing them with sand. The slime endured.