Daily Meditation: Sunday, February 2, 2020

People sometimes come to me and complain that they have …

02/02/2020

People sometimes come to me and complain that they have been criticized. They are dreadfully upset by the things being said about them. I say to them, ‘That is what happens when you are unprepared. You should know in advance that this is how it will always be. Why do you imagine that you will be spared and that life will be a bed of roses? Pull yourselves together and tell yourselves that it is certainly not the last time that you will be criticized. Next time, if you have done nothing to make yourself stronger, you will be crushed all over again.’ Of course, they are a little taken aback because they expected me to console them and tell them that it would never happen again, that from now on they would be shielded from such things. It comes as a shock to them to be told to prepare themselves for more trials of the same kind! I always advise people to use the methods that I myself use: I often tell myself that all kinds of unpleasant things are liable to happen; I am sure of this in advance. If they do not happen, so much the better, but if they do, at least I shall not be taken by surprise.