When the Criticism Comes

Being in a world full of people means we’ll have conflict. There’s almost nothing more certain. There are times too when people feel that we should have done things differently or dealt with things as they’d desired and not how we judged them to be. Our responses were ill-weighted, cumbersome or insensitive to them. How do we deal with criticism objectively when it comes?

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Pressure comes,

At times in life,

When all seem bent,

On causing strife.

Ever which way,

We turn to look,

Uncertainty—self-consciousness,

Wired and crook.

It seems so ironic—

And just how’s this—

We’re really just one corner,

Away from bliss.

You see we brace,

When at times it comes,

To centre with space,

Despite awkward thumbs.

Diverting from critique,

Moments held true,

Resisting thought to speak,

Our attitude is new.

Somehow now,

Their jibes mean nothing,

No furrowed brow,

No tempted muttering.

Now we’ve converted,

High tide for low,

Yes we’re diverted,

Feelings safe to stow.

Confidence we’ve drawn,

Which last was so far off,

Fresh thought has spawned,

Peace not so aloft.

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Pressure comes when we’ve made decisions—perhaps poor ones... and certainly poor ones in their eyes. Then it’s up to us how we deal with these things. The poem is leading us to think differently before we respond.

We’re tempted to polarise within ourselves and be hurt by the criticism, which is a very normal human response, but we have the opportunity—if the moment’s mastered—to go beyond that place.

A blissful state is just around the corner, literally.

I call it, “centring with space.”

We give ourselves time to contend. The higher mind—like the jury—is out to contemplation. We negate the pressure. We’ll ‘get back to them’ (just not right now).

When we’ve stopped our responding in the moment for just another thought and perhaps one more, we’ve suddenly noticed there’s more to this situation than meets the eye. And our feelings have quelled.

It’s amazing just how often our responses, then, are different... and worlds better.

© 2010 S. J. Wickham.