Take Criticisms Positively

the same dilemma as we do. I have seen plenty of friends who have learned it the hard way in life. Their common characteristic is lack of trust in the opinions of other people. They want to experience first the consequences of problems before they could understand the import and the implication of their actions. It is like trying to live life by trial-and-error. There are sure ways and better ways to avoid some consequences. We don’t need to learn everything in the manner in which the cavemen had learned everything—that is learning by experience. We need to learn from the stock knowledge which had been handed over to us from the previous generations. We can do this by listening to the opinion of others and taking some pieces of advice from those who are more knowledgeable and more experienced than us.

Take Criticisms Positively

Many among us find it difficult to handle criticisms because we feel that criticisms are given out to bring us down, so we take them negatively. Because we are not totally objective all the time, we often get emotional and we gethurt. Likewise, our personalities are not compartmentalized; we are not beings whose intellectual faculty is separated from the physical or emotional aspects. We approached everything with our whole being. Our works are products of our whole being and not just our body. Thus, if someone criticizes our work, we feel hurt because we poured ourselves into it. Yet, it takes discipline to control our emotions every time we are criticized. It takes maturity to accept criticisms gracefully. Moreover, we need the ability to accept criticism maturely and gracefully in order for us to develop and grow. Positive change is only possible if we are open to criticisms, and openness to criticisms implies a bit of dying to oneself. Remember, we can only come to grip of our real self if we come face-to-face with other people ina close cooperation or relationship. Thus, if we want to have an objective view of

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ourselves and a thriving cooperative relationship with other people, we need to listen to the honest opinions and criticisms of those people who cooperate with us, because they can provide us with a different perspective distinct from our very own point-of-view.

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