What is the world’s greatest superpower? Not invisibility. Not flight. Imperviousness.
Such people exist. They stand like stone in the midst of chaos. When betrayed, they smile. When slandered, they pass by. When talked about behind their backs, they do not even hear.
Others collapse from a single message. A single glance. A single sentence from a boss. They cannot sleep for days.
Is the cause of this difference upbringing, character, genetics, thick skin?
None of these. The secret lies in Jung’s mirror principle.
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”
Stop. Read that again.
That unbearably selfish friend? Perhaps it is your own desire to put yourself first, suppressed for years. That arrogant manager? Perhaps it is the result of a sense of inferiority within you. That lying acquaintance? Perhaps it is your avoidance of facing your own small lies.
The outside is only a trigger. The bullet is always fired from within.
For years we blame the external world. “He disrespected me.” “She treated me unfairly.” Playing the victim is convenient. The enemy is not outside. The enemy is inside. And we do not always want to see it.
If someone can irritate you — it means they have power over you. Who gave them that power? You. Because a person who does not believe in their own worth allows others to define them. They seek the answer to “Who am I?” from the outside. And the outside is merciless.
True freedom begins the moment you stop being an emotional sponge. Someone throws a poisonous word at you. Do not absorb it. Simply observe. Say: “This is their poison, not mine.”
An insult — until you accept it — is a bomb that explodes in the hands of its owner. Let it explode. Let it explode in their own hands.
Whoever we choose to become, sooner or later we become that. Your past, your traumas — they are just data. Data does not mean destiny. Whether to accept that data or not is in your hands.
If someone called you “unlucky,” that is their view. Not your truth. If your teacher called you “talentless,” that is the limit of their understanding. Not your limit. If people are telling you “it is too late,” that is their clock. Not your clock.
The war outside never ends. People talk. Criticize. Judge. Treat you unfairly. This will not change.
The only thing that can change is us. Fortify the fortress within. Thicken the walls. Dig the moat deeper.
Then look into Jung’s mirror. Meet the shadow within. Shake hands with it. Say: “I see you.”
Only then can nothing outside shake you. Do not hide, do not run, do not fear.
From the diaries of Abdukarim Mirzayev
Pablo Picasso — “Girl Before a Mirror” (1932)
I think they do not want to feel like a victim, they hate to feel like a victim of Human nature cuz it is counterproductive. Charlie Munger is an example. I found out that there is a difference between annoying and irritating, so if someone calls me something bad that is a boundary issue and annoys me, but the quote is saying if you do not like someone lazy and it disrupts your mind, make you angry then it has something to do with you having over-rigid discipline, maladaptive perfectionism and etc. Thank you for the quote and thought-provoking post!