I asked a friend of mine to share a criticism with me. She said that I am always late to meet her. I did not feel hurt but felt annoyed. I shared this. This is the most honest I have been with this friend in this way. She shared that she believes this means that I don’t see her as important and I said that this was on her. I shared that I have an issue with my time management and do think it is part of my dyslexia. I shared that it is not personal and that I have an issue with this for a long time. I feel that I went into this too much and that I was defensive. Still, this was a good opportunity to be vulnerable and go deeper with the friendship. I am feeling curious to ask others, however I will be gentle with myself.
Well done, Michelle! Good noticing that you might have been defensive. We are all learning. And noticing something is a very beautiful place to start. Like you said, be gentle with yourself. I love that you have given yourself the gift of this exercise <3
An incident arose and I just got crosser! I felt that Quin should apologise for his part and he didn’t. Now that I’m aware of this, I look forward to the next time when in awareness, I can just watch it arise, be curious about it, welcome it in, and let it dance it’s dance while continuing to listen to him.
And I see that the exercise is to invite him to share a criticism with me which is a slightly different shift to my para above. So I look forward to doing that.
3 Comments
Michelle · April 12, 2022 at 12:08 am
I asked a friend of mine to share a criticism with me. She said that I am always late to meet her. I did not feel hurt but felt annoyed. I shared this. This is the most honest I have been with this friend in this way. She shared that she believes this means that I don’t see her as important and I said that this was on her. I shared that I have an issue with my time management and do think it is part of my dyslexia. I shared that it is not personal and that I have an issue with this for a long time. I feel that I went into this too much and that I was defensive. Still, this was a good opportunity to be vulnerable and go deeper with the friendship. I am feeling curious to ask others, however I will be gentle with myself.
marijketops · April 12, 2022 at 9:55 am
Well done, Michelle! Good noticing that you might have been defensive. We are all learning. And noticing something is a very beautiful place to start. Like you said, be gentle with yourself. I love that you have given yourself the gift of this exercise <3
Cecilia Hollick · April 12, 2022 at 1:15 pm
An incident arose and I just got crosser! I felt that Quin should apologise for his part and he didn’t. Now that I’m aware of this, I look forward to the next time when in awareness, I can just watch it arise, be curious about it, welcome it in, and let it dance it’s dance while continuing to listen to him.
And I see that the exercise is to invite him to share a criticism with me which is a slightly different shift to my para above. So I look forward to doing that.