Haha! "Thoughts?" - There's your problem. Mike --- On Fri, 27/4/12, robenzo72 <[email protected]> wrote:
From: robenzo72 <[email protected]> Subject: [Zen] Assertiveness vs. Zen = Perplexed! To: [email protected] Date: Friday, 27 April, 2012, 18:52 I'm here to learn. I'm also here because I believe the collective wisdom/knowledge here can provide answers that would otherwise take me who knows how long to discover. Here's my latest "Zen Perplexity": Suffice to say that I deal with some rather difficult people in my life. One might even say "unnecessarily difficult," or even label it has harassment. No kidding. I'm just a very peace-loving dude, but I'm also like a hate magnet that draws peoples' ire without falter. This I know: I cannot change the behavior of others, I can only alter mine. However, the Universe provides me with endless opportunities to find "Zen" in order to just cope with life. I was actually so upset today (as I say, I lost my Zen) that I phoned my brother about it. He's not a Zen Buddhist, but does subscribe to another Eastern religion (Ananda Marga). Anyways, after I'd told him that my "Zen" was depleted and therefore I had to exit a situation, he suggested that rather than trying to be so "Zen-like," that I needed "assertiveness training." Hmm... Assertiveness is a necessary skill, but it also leads to ego "stuff" and altercations. So, I'm really just in a quandary. Rarely do you see Zen text instructing assertiveness in difficult situations (unless I'm mistaken). I've also thought it conceivable that I just have a low level of it, but that's neither here nor there. Thoughts?
