This post consists of an anecdote that’s been making the rounds for ages, and several observations about how it’s manifesting itself in my life. It’s likely that you’ve heard or read this anecdote before.

I first saw the anecdote illustrated live, in church. (Minus the beer.) One of the leaders in the Young Women’s program in my church gave a presentation in front of the whole church involving a large jar, some heart-shaped pieces of wood with priorities written on them, and just the right volume of sand. It was beautiful. My mind was blown. Anecdote below the fold:

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One of the best things I ever did for myself was to let go of the persecution complexes (plural) that I was carrying around. In reality, nobody is oppressing me. I am not being oppressed. I basically have control over the limits that get placed on my life.

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I mentioned back in April that I had discovered, but not resolved, an attitude problem relating to how my life was turning out: that it was getting away from me. When I wrote the blog post, I did not yet have a strategy for transforming that attitude. In the intervening months, I’d basically forgotten about it. It came back to the fore about 2 weeks ago, in a new light.

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If you’re not ready to accept what’s in this post, that’s OK; read it anyway, put it in the background, and ignore it as long as you need to.

What you don’t like about someone else is what you don’t like about yourself. (This is a subset of “you can’t love someone else until you learn to love yourself,” a lovely piece of kitch I’m still evaluating.)

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