When people hurt you...don't take it personally! Practice unconditional love...

Supposedly, per a dear friend of mine, I have symptoms of having had a NDE (Near Death Experience). You should realize that she has actually had two of these experiences. So, when she told me this, I really took my friend's statement seriously. One reason (the reason I will be focusing on), she believes this is because, I have a tendency to see the good in people and recognize everyone's higher self. Does this mean that I am too trusting? To the outsider, probably yes... Do I "get burned" by people? Yes. However, when and if this happens, I try not to take what others have done personally. If this does happen, please realize that just because I see the good in people and realize it isn't personal...this does not mean I have to be best friends with them. It simply allows me to accept the situation, and begin to heal from it more quickly. 

Yes, I said that. This is a concept that 99.9% of the world will find difficult to do. As a matter of fact, most people will be appalled at the thought of not holding people completely accountable for their actions or emotions that have caused others pain. Though we do have laws that hold people "accountable" for their extreme violations involving physical actions against others, and consequences are often physical in nature such as jail time...I am speaking of less extreme trespasses. 

What I am speaking of is more of the bad friends, bad family and bad experience situations. Betrayals, anger, control and hate...these are often what we have to face while here on earth. If you believe that we are all here on this planet to learn and grow spiritually, then there will be souls that will create these types of challenges for others. They do this so that others can embrace their spirituality and push them into a deeper level of spiritual growth. For example, I am in awe of people who forgive a criminals for violating/hurting/murdering their family member. I am also in awe of people who forgive people who have abandoned and emotionally abused them. When you see this type of forgiveness, you should realize that you are in the presence of someone who is amazingly advanced spiritually. 

I think once you take your first step onto the spiritual path, you have to realize that your "ego" will be your biggest challenge or hindrance to enlightenment. The "ego" is what makes people categorize, label, validate and want control of others. As I continue to educate myself regarding "ego" I find myself recognizing when my "ego" begins to take over, and I am usually able to push it aside. As "ego" begins to fall away you will find your perception of the world and people in it change dramatically. For example, I find myself empathizing with people who are not normally given sympathy. Due to my beliefs, I believe there are pre-birth plans that have challenges written into them. Due to freewill, others may have not chosen to embrace an opportunity to rise above and evolve to a higher level of spiritually. However, sometimes people who offend are growing spiritually through the experience of having offended or hurt someone. 

Simply put, either they were traveling along their life path, hit some challenges along the way, and chose not to follow the path to enlightenment. The other possibility is that their "mistake" was in their pre-birth plan, and the experience is meant to humble them. To recognize that by hurting others...whether emotional, physical, spiritual or mental...will ultimately only hurt themselves. 

Back to not taking it personally. If you believe we are here to grow spiritually and evolve, no matter your religion or spirituality, you must recognize that when people act out against you...it really has nothing to do with you. True religion and spirituality is about love and forgiveness without exceptions. To withhold these gifts is to withhold them from yourself. In the end, you are punished as harshly as the offender. I have found feelings of love for all mankind. Especially, feelings of empathy to those who have lost their understanding of what life is about. Which is really just about giving and receiving unconditional love.