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. Before I jump into today's episode about Hurt Feelings, I want to thank you for your patience as I learn how to navigate this podcast territory, which is all new to me. From being a sound engineer to producing quality recordings, despite challenging
limitations, like finding a quiet time to tape the show. It may sound like I'm in a professional recording studio, but I'm in my RV, parked at a friend's driveway, surrounded by the sound of lawnmowers, leaf blowers, hedge trimmers, traffic, barking dogs, car alarms, helicopters, sirens, and even an airport just a couple of blocks away. So there is a lot of post-production work that goes into each session and I'm slowly learning
to balance volume with clarity, and content with brevity. I very much appreciate your support through Patreon and for sharing these shows with your friends on Facebook or YouTube. Thank you for taking that much-needed five-minute break during the day to pause, reflect, and continue on more peacefully than before.
Since we're going to talk about feelings, I took part of a guided-meditation exercise that I spoke of extensively during my first book tour, and I want to share the gist of it with you as a means by which to lay the foundation of how our minds control our feelings instead of the other way around. We were first instructed to sit comfortably, close our eyes, and think back to a very sad moment in our lives. We were invited to recall
the textures, sounds, and smells of that memory. Who was with us? Where were we? And revisit that time with as much detail as possible. From the back of the room it was easy to see everyone's posture slowly slouch, and some people even began crying the more time they spent revisiting that memory. We were then instructed to think back to a very pleasant time in our lives, and everyone's posture immediately straightened. As more details began to form in our minds,
some people were smiling broadly and even giggling to themselves. For me, that exercise proved that we can navigate our feelings from sadness to joy, from worry to complete trust and faith, simply by selecting where to focus our thoughts. So, my question for you today is: do you think it's possible for other people to control your feelings, or can they only try, and then it's your decision to either feel hurt or not?
Surely you agree that someone can say something offensive to me, for example, but I can choose to not be offended, right? So why don't we practice that empowering choice more often? If you regularly blame other people for something that is not their fault, then you also make it other people's job to fix what is your responsibility to maintain. It's classic victim mentality of feeling small or weak by giving away our power.
I not only agree with Eleanor Roosevelt, who said that, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent," I truly believe that no one can make you feel ANYTHING without your consent. It's time to stop blaming other people for our state of mind, our mood swings, or for our stress levels. These things are our personal responsibility. Stop giving strangers or those closest to you the power to manipulate your inner peace so easily.
This also applies to compliments or praise received from people; stay humble. Don't react. Just keep doing what you do, and some people will find value in it while others may not. The important thing is to take back your power. So let me ask you again: do you think it's possible for other people to manipulate your feelings? Or can they only try, and then it's up to us to own our reactions? Timber Hawkeye is the bestselling author of Faithfully Religionless and Buddhist Boot Camp.
For additional information, please visit BuddhistBootCamp.com, where you can order autographed books to support the Prison Library Project, watch Timber's inspiring TED Talk, and join our monthly mailing list. We hope you have enjoyed this episode and invite you to subscribe for more thought-provoking discussions. Thank you for being a Soldier of Peace in the Army of Love. 🙏