One of the rarely mentioned benefits of having a strong awareness of what’s true for you is the sense of stability and serenity it grants you when you’re buffeted about by the desires, expectations and priorities of other people.
The stronger your sense of self is, the clearer you are on your principles, needs, and desires, the more clearly you can separate your emotions from the conflict and the more ably you can navigate the situation.
And, hopefully, because you’ve done all this self-work, you can clearly empathize and relate to the other person without giving ground on your own principles.
In the words of Stephen Covey, everything becomes win-win, or not at all.
And you’re fine with that.
Which in my opinion, is a valuable sense of enlightenment not to be overlooked in our haste towards Nirvana.
Your thoughts?
[ssbp]
