Taking Criticism

Someone in my English class wrote this in her paper.

"I learned that I didn't have to believe what they said, because I have a mind of my own." 

This is a beautiful statement.  If only everyone was able to grasp this concept.  

We are individuals.  We have our own brains.  We are in control of whether or not other people affect us.  People act as if they have control over us.  In reality, we give them the control.  

We are our own critics.  Isn't that how the saying goes?  Well, I can't think of one thing wrong with this.  Whether we are conscious of it or not, we are deciding whose opinion matters to us.  Their thoughts enter into our brain and two things happen.  It either

Just like people can't  control us, we can't control people.  They will say crazy things.  They will insult and compliment.  They have the opportunity to chance our opinions.  But we have the power to reject that.  

At the same time, negative feedback can make us stronger.  We can take what we hear and work towards fixing that.  What may sound like an insult at first is really helping us shape ourselves into something better.  

Where is the happy medium between rejecting unwanted criticism and using the negative opinions of others to help ourselves?  How can we find this middle?

Here is something I think we could do...


I believe some things are meant to be ignored.  Don't ponder every insult to the point that you are hurting yourself by repeating the insults.  But, if something is sticking with you, and you can't seem to shake it, think on it, write it down and journal your thoughts.  Look at it from multiple angles to see if there is anything you can take from it to help yourself out.  We may be able to take people's thoughts and turn them into motivational tidbits.  We can even be crazy and thank the people after they insult us.  They will think we're going insane, but we can laugh and move on.