Why Be a Victim?

“We obviously can’t let go if we are waiting to be saved.  Certainly there are real victims, but most of us put ourselves in this role needlessly.  And we do it every day.

“When our goal is to maintain our sense of wholeness and connectedness regardless of what the day throws at us, we simply will not become a victim.  Nothing is ‘beyond our control’ because we are not interested in control.  We let the people and situations we encounter be who and what they are.  We are not motivated to reform or remake them.  This doesn’t mean we like how everyone behaves, nor does it mean that we fail to protect ourselves and loved ones from destructive people.  But if we commit ourselves to changing even pleasant people when they don’t want to change, we instantly become victims of their reactions.  Each little response to our efforts pulls at the strings of our emotions.”

— Hugh Prather, The Little Book of Letting Go, p. 8-9.

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