Being Victims

Tom Crum's latest book, Three Deep Breaths, is published by Berrett Koehler Publishing. It is a great company that publishes some really meaningful books and makes a real effort to support their authors. As part of that effort, they have created a blog that features their various authors and books.

A recent post by author Noah Blumenthal definitely rang true for me. Noah is the author of Be the Hero: Three Powerful Ways to Overcome Challenges in Work and Life. In his book he points out that to become heroes we need to realize that we're often trapped in a cycle of victimhood that only encourages passivity and inaction. The truth is that no one makes us victims, we do it all ourselves. For the B-K blog, he wrote about five ways we make ourselves victims without even realizing it. Here is the first item on his list, check out the BK blog for the rest:

1. We let other people own our emotions. “He makes me so mad.” “It’s her fault I feel this way.” No one forces you to feel anything. Whether or not you realize it those feelings are still your choice. Other people have their own issues to work out, and sometimes those issues lead them to push you toward anger or misery. If you accept their push you are making yourself a victim of their action instead of the hero in this story.

Enjoy!
Judy Warner