Coping With Negative People
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“No one consciously chooses discord over harmony, but our established patterns of behavior often rule our lives without consideration for our own good or for the wellbeing of others.”
Suppose there is someone in your life who contacts you often and regularly expresses a negative attitude. What is a considerate and kind way of coping with that situation that respects both ourselves and the other person?
Although it may seem tempting to block or exclude that individual, that, in my understanding, may not be the wisest path. A more considerate approach, when faced with those types of experiences, is to first work on ourselves.
The Living Light Philosophy teaches that outward manifestations are revelations of inner attitudes of mind. That is, the true cause of all our experiences is within our own consciousness. So that is where it is prudent to begin: by working on the cause, which is inside.
If a person in our lives is consistently negative, they are simply reflecting back to us an attitude that we are expressing on some level of consciousness within ourselves. We may not be consciously aware that we are expressing on that level, but there are many levels of our subconscious mind that are often quite active and that we are unaware of. It is the discord within our own consciousness, on levels that we are not consciously aware of, that returns to us as experiences that we often do not appreciate.
One moment we are courageous; yet, at another, we are fearful. One moment we are generous, yet a few moments later we can be selfish. One moment we want to go to the mountains, but in the next, we want to go to the sea. Those are some of our many levels of consciousness.
One way to begin the journey of greater awareness of our own levels of consciousness is to frequently ask, “This experience is interesting. What is going on inside of my mind, that I may not be quite aware of, that would result in this experience? Where am I in consciousness?” In time, through this spiritual exercise, we become more aware of where we are in consciousness and who we are in truth. And as we become more aware, we choose more wisely which levels on which to express.
No one consciously chooses discord over harmony, but our established patterns of behavior often rule our lives without consideration for our own good or for the wellbeing of others. Those patterns of behavior often become so ingrained that they are almost automatic and we engage them without a conscious choice or even conscious awareness. With repetition, those patterns become ingrained in our subconscious. But we are not our patterns of behavior. We are that divine energy that sustains those patterns.
So, awareness is the first step. We cannot change anything in our lives that we are not first aware of. And our experiences in life are constantly reflecting back to us where we are, revealing to us the changes that are necessary for us in order that we may experience greater goodness and greater harmony.
The journey inward to more fully understand ourselves and to become more aware of our subconscious programming is not an easy path, but few things of value are easy. Through our spiritual exercises and affirmations, we slowly but surely reprogram our subconscious patterns with different, more harmonious programming. As we make that effort, our experiences in life will refine and evolve to reflect that greater harmony. But change is not easy for anyone, for our established patterns often resist our efforts to change.
It is important to remember that that person who is expressing a negative attitude is not a negative person. That person is only temporarily over-identified with a negative level of consciousness in their subconscious mind and one day, they will express, as they make their effort to grow, on more harmonious levels.
We cannot change another. We cannot grow for another. But we can change the world. We change the world by changing ourselves. And as we make the conscious effort to grow spiritually, to more fully express the harmony and goodness of our true being, those around us are given the opportunity to grow with us or to go. And if we are truly growing, if we are sincerely making the effort to become more aware of our divinity, then it doesn’t really matter whether they go or they stay, for all are free to choose the path that they feel is right.
Sponsored by: The Serenity Association
The Serenity Association is a spiritual organization that is dedicated to the publication, dissemination, and application of the Living Light Philosophy, which states, “It is the very purpose of these classes to help you to help yourself to become aware of your true being. To be freed from the overidentification of who you think you are in order that you may know beyond a shadow of any doubt who you really are.”
“The purpose of teaching, my good students, is not to tell you the way to grow but to reveal unto you a way that you may find of awakening the light within you.”
For more information on these teachings, you are invited to visit www.livinglight.org.