I don't mean this to become reflexive, which means both a knee jerk response and also a binary flow of referring to oneself/itself.
Too wordy.
If I accept that the things around me that I dislike are reflecting parts of me right back at me, it is quite uncomfortable. It is also when I learn the most. Someone famous said no one can offend you without your permission, so if I am offended by something someone says or does is it because I'm invested in opposing that behavior? Or does it trigger something inside me? It can only upset me if I allow it to upset me.
So I revisit the ages old dilemma (at least in my life) of whether to try to detach and how to do it without becoming a shadow of myself. I was fascinated by stoicism in college years, and even made an attempt to be stoic as described by Epictetus. To no avail, of course. I am dealt a heavy hand of Empathy by both nature and nurture and trying to detach from feelings was like trying to divorce myself from myself. I have studied a little here and there also about meditation, letting go of ego, and read among various religious and non-religious meditations things that encourage me (us, humanity) to allow thoughts to flow through the mind as clouds do through the sky without becoming overly attached to their meaning, significance, importance, etc.
On some days I'm in tune with letting go. Like sandcastles built all day and flushed away by the tide, or chalk drawings washed away by rain, so too flow by the dramas of daily life.
My soul may be old, but I still have many lessons to learn.
Perhaps I will one day let go even of trying to do it right, this letting go business. Maybe one day I will be content to be.
In the meantime my head goes round and round these circular reflections, enjoying to challenge, enjoying to ponder, enjoying to chase deeper meanings in things around me.
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