"Comprehension" Einstein by Mimi Stuart
Live the LIfe you Desire
The way you relate to the outside world reflects the way you relate to the inner world of your psyche. If you tend to be critical of many types of people, chances are you have a severe inner critic that condemns many different parts of yourself.
Such an inner critic causes you to disown and actively disavow parts of yourself, constricting your life-force, and possibly leading to depression. It prevents you from becoming a more multifaceted, life-embracing, and understanding individual.
An active antipathy for whole groups of people, for example, the rich, the sophisticated, tree-huggers, hipsters, nerds, jocks, or entire races of people, indicates a one-sided rigidity within your own personality that limits your empathy, your vitality, and ultimately, your life.
There’s no need to embrace people who are extreme and it’s fine not to like certain individuals. Undoubtedly, many people do not carry their personality traits very attractively. However, every type has some valuable qualities from which we can learn something. By comprehending why people are the way they are, your inner critic will soften, allowing you the flexibility and breathing room to live more expansively.
When you see or hear yourself starting to disparage whole groups of people stop and ask yourself, “Does this feeling really benefit me? How could my life be enhanced if I let go of these negative feelings and paid attention to the positive aspects of this group?”
by Alison Poulsen, PhD
