The Benefits of Learning to Accept People You Dislike

“We often give our enemies the means of our own destruction.” – Aesop, The Eagle and the Arrow We can sometimes have difficulty accepting our friends, family, and loved ones as they are when their habits, quirks, or behavior annoy us. Our natural tendency is to try to change what we don’t like about them, which often leads to resentment. Nonetheless, given their importance and presence in our lives, we are usually willing to make an effort to accept them as they are. But what about people we dislike—people who cause us grief? For example, an overbearing boss, a scheming coworker, or an annoying relative. Should we also make an effort to accept them as they are? Before you decline to do so, consider that when we don’t accept such people as they are (and more about what that means shortly), the adverse consequences for ourselves can be even worse. One problem is that we will be prone to engaging them in combative, retaliatory ways, as was my modus operandi. I now realize that I suffered unnecessarily from my refusal to accept people I disliked or despised, in terms of both greater personal anguish and counterproductive responses to their actions. And especially so when I was betrayed by a business partner several years ago. I Refused to Accept My Business Partner for Who He Was During a particularly difficult period in my life when my first wife and I were on the brink of breaking up, a business partner was intent on squeezing me out of my most profitabl...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Publishers Self-Help Tiny Buddha acceptance Anger Boundaries Fear intentions Judgment reality Resentment Source Type: blogs