When Zen Meets A Critic
So I post a quote on Facebook the other day:
“Everyday is like a handful of clay, mold make it & shape it.”-Me
I give myself credit for it at the end and I get some great feedback from people as I usually do. Here is one I got which I found interesting and am sharing for a good reason.
“You’ve got good quotes but it’s extremely tacky to quote yourself like that man..”
Critics are plentiful with their opinions.
If you’re not familiar I actually come up wit a lot of quotes or chunks of insight from time to time that I share on Twitter, Facebook and even here at TonyTeegarden Dot com. I quote them and I sign them with (-Me) at the end of them.
I had a hard time originally giving myself credit for these quotes. Lots of stuff going on inside like:
- Who am I to give myself credit like this publicly?
- Will I come off as conceded?
- Do I need to give myself credit because of low self esteem?
- Will this be a reflection of my ego?
- Etc..etc..
You get the idea.
Bottom line I was asking myself bad questions.
Then I came across this below which got me to ask myself a lot better questions:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness
That most frightens us.We ask ourselves
Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.Your playing small
Does not serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking
So that other people won’t feel insecure around you.We are all meant to shine,
As children do.
We were born to make manifest
The glory of God that is within us.It’s not just in some of us;
It’s in everyone.And as we let our own light shine,
We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we’re liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.-Marianne Williamson
Asking Better Questions
So I asked myself better questions and here is just a little of what I came up with.
- Who am I NOT to give myself credit?
- What kind of example do I portray by playing small?
- Who could I inspire by showing I am not afraid to give myself credit for these nuggets of wisdom?
I could go on but you get the point.
There are always going to be critics no matter what kind of light you attempt to shed on peoples lives. There are always going to be someone projecting their beliefs onto you.
Truly I believe the individual was projecting his fear of light onto me. I admit my ego flared up and I had a few words I would have liked to share with him of which I of course let go of. I replied:
….and then I thought, am I playing small If I don’t? Am I scared of my light? Do I not think that much of myself? Very interesting conversation I had with myself.
Quite frankly my friend I’d like to believe:
-I shed a lot more light in peoples lives,
-help inspire them to believe in themselves,
-inspire them to give themselves credit,
-and inspire them to touch other people lives more by giving myself credit. (Being an example)
It doesn’t matter what you do, you’re going to have critics and their opinions are going to be plentiful.
I heard it said best once:
“If someone doesn’t have the lifestyle you desire (physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially) or they do but aren’t willing to share with you how they did it, don’t listen to their opinion.”-Russell Bly
Remember critics are simply giving you their opinion which is based around their beliefs. They are just that, opinions. Even if it’s their professional opinion, take it all with a grain of salt and question it.
My good friend David Risley posted a guest post on his blog by Frank Angleone on 10 Tips for Overcoming Critics to Build Your Business. It’s of universal strategies & tips for anyone looking to break out of the box in business or in life.
What about you? How do you deal with Critics?
