Attention: This post has been written by
There is always someone who may get offended by whatever other people say. What's considered offensive to one person may not be as offensive to another.
The problem is not in why someone offends us, but why we feel offended in the first place. If we get offended so easily, then maybe it is time to change the way we think so we wouldn't get offended. It might be a sign that we need to mindfully evaluate why we have such response in the first place.
Feeling offended is our subjective experience based on our emotional reaction to certain external information. As they say, "offense is taken, not given". If we ask ourselves a question - what really happens in reality around us, when we feel offended?
We would realize that the answer is: nothing happens. The world stays the same around us. The sky is still the same. The trees stand in the same place. Universal life goes on, regardless. There are no changes in reality. The only changes are in our mind
There is, also nothing in structure of certain combination of words that renders them inherently offensive. This is only our cognitive reaction - a reactive thought process.
Imagine if someone calmly threw insults at you in foreign that language you don't even understand. You would not even recognize that you are being "offended", so you would not have any sort of negative emotional reaction to it.
The type of reaction we have is directly related to our psychological make-up. It means that we can improve the way we react. Realizing that is very useful. We can transform ourselves from being an unstable bundle of uncontrolled emotional reactions towards assertive and stoic person.Both our conscious and unconscious reactions have roots in how we have been conditioned to react by many factors within our life (bio-psycho-social factors). The trick is to teach ourselves to be able to recognize our reactions to external stimuli, and make ourselves act in non reactive way.
[Epictetus was an ancient Greek, stoic philosopher]
Although feeling offended by something or someone may feel good and give us a fleeting sense of moral superiority, it doesn't help us to figure out what the essence of the world is really about. Actually, feeling offended tends to make it much harder for us to figure it out. That is because we lose ability to effectively assess the evidence.
Getting offended is simply self victimization, because it is up to us to make a decision, if we should be offended by anything.
It is important to note that many people use sense of being offended as ability to manipulate others. Often, in order to reinforce or propegate their certain beliefs.
Not getting offended does not remove the right to criticise aberrant behavior, or stand our ground to defend what we consider right. Being able to do this is very important for keeping our self integrity. Getting offended and criticizing unjust or violent behavior, are two different things.
Also, it doesn't mean that deliberately offending people is acceptable
"Comic Database: Steve Hughes... Offended? "
Attention: This post has been written by
The author will receive 100% of the STEEM Dollars from this post
Don't just follow me, follow the author as well, if you like their post