Welcome to the Buddhist Boot Camp Podcast. Our intention is to awaken, enlighten, enrich, and inspire a simple and uncomplicated life.

Discover the benefits of mindful living with your host, Timber Hawkeye.

I called this episode, It's not you, it's me, because whenever I'm tempted to blame someone else for how I'm feeling, I remind myself that they aren't the problem. I am. Like if you and I were hanging out and you started doing something that irritates me, humming or whistling, for example,

tempting as it may be to blame you for being annoying,

the problem is that I'm choosing to be annoyed by something you're doing. So it's not you, it's me.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said that no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

And I not only agree with her, but I believe no one can make you feel anything without your consent.

I mean, haven't you ever noticed that the same things you consider irritating are actually pleasant or even soothing for others? Things like hot or cold weather, classical music, the sound of children laughing, long road trips in the car,

thunderstorms, even data entry or gardening, all of those things that some people really enjoy and look forward to that others plan their entire lives in an ongoing effort to try to avoid.

What one person thinks is the solution, someone else thinks is the

complication. So the invitation is for all of us to avoid judgment altogether, to stop labeling

everything as good or bad according to my own personal preferences.

When I get annoyed by someone blasting their car stereo now in a residential neighborhood,

I just remind myself that I used to do the same thing when I was younger or when cigarette smoke

grosses me out I just recall my own Marlboro days and that whole judgy-wudgy attitude dissolves.

I think it's really important to keep ourselves in

check so that we don't start thinking our way of being is somehow superior or

worse yet ought to be universally practiced by everyone else.

And that's why I often say that you will only be surrounded by annoying people and frustrating

situations until you learn not to get annoyed or frustrated.

We need to stop blaming outside forces

for our own lack of internal peace.

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