How to be Offended
It’s a common term these days to be offended. Unfortunately it is not the offense that is the problem, it is the lowering of the individuals’ personal standards that creates the problem.
You don’t have to be offended if you don’t want.
Being offended by something or someone is inside the mind, not a cause of the person hurling the offensive remark. This is just a symptom that has grown out of the main cause.
The main cause of being offended is our willingness to be offended, our willingness to let other people upset us. We have lowered our own personal standard to allow someone or something external from us, to have an impact on our emotional state.
This has been exacerbated by the modern 24/7 connected world. We have so much information, so much personal opinion coming at us all day every day, that it is hard at times to not get angry or worse, offended.
But if you want any form of stable and lasting happiness in life you have to learn to step back from the world, observe what is happening but remove all judgement. This doesn’t mean you accept things that are wrong, but it means you stop letting them affect your own personal state. Remember if you get offended or angry and react, you are no better than the person who put the offensive comment or action out there in the first place.
The old adage is truer now then ever before…Sticks and stones may break my bones….
