I was flipping around the channels while riding my exercise bike tonight, and I caught a few minutes of Deepak Chopra on PBS. It was the pledge push and the PBS announcer was asking him questions submitted from callers.

One caller asked how he could overcome self-doubt. I am not going to get the exact words, but he said, roughly:

Reject criticism. But then you must also reject flattery.

I like that he included both. So often we see advice to reject, or not let criticism define how we feel about ourselves BUT we don't address the downside of letting flattery affect our perceptions.

He was saying - do not think of yourself as either lower than or higher than anyone else.

OK, so Chopra is a bit new-agey (or as my friend calls it, Airy Fairy), but I think this is great advice. We get so wrapped up in how people see things - other people - that we lose our self and we give up living fully and mindfully in the present.

Even at work - the politics, the juggling for power. It is crazy. And it is meaningless. Most of the silly work politicking adds no more minutes of happiness and often robs us of precious minutes. I am not talking about pride in goal achievement, I am talking about the need to win in ways that elevate our feelings of stature.

Reject that having a small cube means something. Reject that having a corner office means something.
Reject that failure is devastating. Reject that winning is the end goal.

Food for thought.


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