We as a species have a unique symbiotic relationship
With other people and the planet
If you drink a glass of water it can keep you alive. We need water, we can’t live without it. As much as water can give you life, though, it can kill you if it’s badly accompanied, for example, if you poison the water, you will die. It’s still water, but it’ll kill you.
Water can feel good. On a hot summer day a cold glass of water will feel extremely good, but if the water is boiling, it’ll hurt you, it’ll burn your lips, mouth, throat and esophagus, but it’s still water. You can’t live without it.
People are the same. A good person will feel good and they can help build you and make you happy and confident. We need people in our lives, it’s our nature as a species to be surrounded by other people. We form strong bonds with others, sometimes lifetime bonds that are stronger than family bonds.
But people being people, sometimes they can have a negative effect on us. Like water, some people can kill you, sometimes they kill you outright, other times they kill you slowly, over time. These people can dim your inner glow, they can make you depressed, destroy your self esteem and take away your confidence. The list of the different types of harm people can cause us is endless, the above are just a few.
The point I’m trying to make is that just like a glass of cold water for summer is good, and a poisoned glass of water can kill you, people can be the same. Just knowing that poisoned water can kill you is not going to stop you from ever drinking water again is it? You know that water is not a bad thing generally.
It is the same with people. Just because there are some people that are bad shouldn’t stop you from connecting with other people. I still believe that people are inherently good, I refuse to believe that most people are like the glass of poisoned water, nor do I believe that all people have the potential to cause me harm. I know I’m not like that and if I exist, then there must be others among the seven billion people on this planet.
The trick is to learn how to tell the bad ones from the good ones. The trick is to not allow these bad people into our inner sanctum. I know that our instincts are always right and they always talk to us, sometimes they scream at us but we choose to ignore them. How many times, after a bad relationship was over, did you tell yourself, “I knew it, I should have listened to myself”? Your gut always knows so start listening to it, it’ll always protect you. Not all people are bad, don’t isolate yourself from others, we need others in order to thrive, we can feed off other people and they feed off of us, we are a symbiote and without others we cannot thrive, sure we can exist, but we cannot thrive.
Don’t let a bad experience keep you from having a good life, if you do, they win, those that caused you pain in the first place.
Tony Jarrah
Author of
“Taming Life – Happiness Is Not a Myth”
All rights reserved. © 2015 Tony Jarrah
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