Why is receiving feedback on our beliefs so challenging? Whenever any one of us receives feedback that is tainted with criticism or judgment, we create a situation that requires defending ourselves.
Don't worry about what other people think of you. Other people are outside your control, and if you can't get past worrying about your own image, you can't live free. You can't please everyone; thinking that you can will leave you alienated and disappointed, so you shouldn't try.
Seek to overcome defensiveness. First, defensiveness puts us in a closed-minded, self-protective mode. Defensiveness creates a climate of contention. It makes it impossible to have a real, two-way conversation about an issue.
The more self-acceptance we have, the easier it is to hear feedback, because we can relax into ourselves and receive it as information rather than confirmation that there is something wrong with us.
Once you received the feedback and have listened carefully to what was said, it’s time to decide what you want to do with it. The first thing is to overcome any self-judgements. You don't owe anybody any explanation or excuse for who you are or what you believe in.
Even in your rightness about a subject, when you try to push your rightness toward another who disagrees, no matter how right you are, it causes more pushing against.
If you don't meet resistance with resistance, it dissipates dramatically. It just softens. Try it! Next time somebody says to you, "I'm right, and you're wrong," say, "Pfftt, you're right. You are right. You're right." And mean it. In other words, don't mock them. Don't be sarcastic. "You're right." And they are. They are quite entitled to their belief and if it's right for them, it's right.
Everyone thinks they're right. So, the question isn't who's right or who's wrong. The question is, who is most in alignment with their Source? And who is the most allowing? And whose life is really going the best, most of the time?
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