Cancel Culture, Triggered Emotions, & Your Teacher

The Mindful Minute

By Pema Sherpa & Brendan Barca

Age-old wisdom for modern living. Each week you'll get 1 quote, 1 reflection and 1 action to help you lead a calmer, clearer, and more conscious life.

Quote:

“With unfailing kindness, your life always presents what you need to learn. Whether you stay at home or work in an office or whatever, the next teacher is going to pop right up."

- Charlotte Joko Beck

Reflection:

Recall the last time you were able to remove a difficult person from your life. Maybe it was that impossible ex-boyfriend you broke up with. That lazy employee you laid off. Or that dishonest friend you stopped texting back. When the person was no longer in your life, you may have felt a sense of relief come over you. "Phew! At least I don't have to deal with that person anymore."

But what happens soon after? Inevitably, someone else pops up in your life that starts causing trouble. It could be your waiter, your nanny, a customer service rep, a neighbor, or a client. It doesn't matter if you work for a living or are a stay-at-home parent, live in a city or on the beach, have ten million dollars or have ten dollars, difficult people will continue to pop up in your life.

Given this fact, what we can do is stop wishing for these people to change, and instead see them as our teachers. Every time they rub us the wrong way, we can use this moment to examine which of our negative emotion they are triggering — Is it our pride? Our self-doubt? Our feeling of unworthiness? Instead of immediately cancelling the person, we can use the person as our best teacher.

Action:

Today, if someone you come across rubs you the wrong way, look within to see what negative emotions they've stirred within you. Unpack the feeling. Reflect on it. What can you learn from it? Don't see the person as an enemy. See the person as an invaluable teacher helping you along your path to inner freedom.

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Have a mindful Wednesday and see you next week!

- Pema & Brendan