I wonder if "enlightened" people -- people who have transcended the ego -- ever get their feelings hurt. I suppose not, as it is actually the ego that is wounded when one's feelings are hurt.
I had a very up close and personal encounter with my ego over the weekend. It was Friday night around 9:30 PM and I still hadn't received a phone call, a text, an instant message, or any other form of contact from the special person in my life. Now usually I'm able to recognize when I'm overreacting or jumping to conclusions -- I remind myself that my thoughts are just thoughts, not facts. For some reason, however, my ego got the best of me Friday night. "He doesn't want to talk to me," I told myself. "Something's going on. He doesn't want to see me anymore."
Before I could stop myself I sent him a rather sarcastic instant message: "Thanks for calling."
"When did I call?" he responded.
"You didn't," I wrote back.
"Well I got a message from you saying thanks for calling," he replied.
"I was being sarcastic," I typed.
"Why?" he asked.
At that point I realized he had no idea why I was upset and I realized my ego had gotten the better of me.
Thanks for the comment about your work on my post. I can imagine it's challenging working with the struggles of military folks and their families. So many issues most of us don't face in everyday life, and yet still the same basic suffering...
ReplyDeleteJa, ja. I have received messages like that full of sarcasm (always from girls). Don´t get angry with him or yourself, men are this way. But we are trying to improve, eh?
ReplyDeleteGreetings from Sopain and congratulations for your blog.