When to Take Things Personally, and When Not To - Kathy Caprino

When to Take Things Personally, and When Not To This week, two ongoing  clients of mine simply forgot they were scheduled for a coaching session,  and just didn’t call.   When talking to them later, they apologized profusely, with sincere embarrassment, and told me they were crashingly busy, and their week got away from them   they simply forgot (or had forgotten to write it down).   When stuff happens in my life in twos and threes like this I like to try to wrap my head around if there’s something for me to learn or do differently, or if it’s just a random occurrence not worthy of any major evaluation or analysis.   After all, sometimes in life (as a friend of mine likes to say), “A butterfly is just a butterfly!”   In this case, I think there is something to look at…that perhaps making time for self-examination and self-discovery is a bit daunting in the face of everything else going on for these  folks this week.       Perhaps an “I forgot” really means, “I can’t take this in, this week. I’m just not up for it.   I will be ready again soon, but not this week.”   And I really get that.   What would be even more beneficial for each of us would be if we able to grow in our awareness of this feeling, and say out loud, “I’m a bit overwhelmed right now, and can’t tackle anything extra this week.”   After all, we all have moments/periods like that.   There’s no shame in it.   To answer my own question, then, do I take these types of occurrences personally (that a few folks are forgetting to call in on a given week?)   Actually, no, I don’t (please let me know if you think Im crazy!)   Per the powerful Four Agreements, by don Miguel Ruiz, I work on avoiding taking things personally, because it gives me greater freedom not to, and an increased ability to keep an open heart and mind.   After all, whatever you want and need is up to you, as is the way you choose to communicate it.   And I’m going to try  to not take any of it personally.   Question of the day: What do you take really personally, and what can you just let go of instead?   I’d love to hear your views.   Here’s to letting it all go, and feeling freer to just be ourselves and letting others do the same.