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.

As much as we hate to admit it, we all care what people think about us to some degree, even just a little bit. It's why we wear or don't wear certain clothes, fix our hair, refrain from certain behavior in public,

etc. And don't get me wrong, some consideration and awareness of our surrounding is imperative, but making other people's opinion of us the driving force behind our decisions can become problematic.

You see, we protect what's important to us, but we consider so many things important

that it's impossible to protect everything. Our friendships and financial stability,

our core values, and family ties, and so on. At some point something's got to give so we prioritize a few

aspects of our lives over others. As Gandhi said, your actions convey your priorities.

Sadly, many people care most how others perceive them,

so protecting their image has become the number one priority.

Other people's possible opinion, be it good or bad, becomes the

filter for their choices. For fear of being judged as anything negative, we forget

that we can be a kind person with a good heart and still say no to people.

This includes family members, friends, employers, neighbors, etc.

Setting boundaries is crucial to ensure we don't end up living our entire life

just to impress the people we know or complete strangers for that matter.

So before we can draw boundaries we need to define our priorities.

If my priority on Sunday, for example, is to finish writing an essay when a friend asks me to help him move,

it's okay for me to say, you know, I can only come for an hour or even I'd rather not come at all, but how about I have some pizza delivered to your house around noon while you pack? The point is not to feel cornered, stuck, forced to lie, feel guilty, helpless, or fearful of what someone might think of us if we prioritize something else over what they think is more important.

We must take personal responsibility for our time, our

money, energy, space, schedule, and so on. Without those boundaries, people might drain

you, but it wouldn't even be their fault because how are they to know they have crossed a line if you didn't set it in the first place?

And if you did set a boundary but didn't stick to it, Remember that what you allow is what will continue.

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