“Hurt people hurt people. That’s how pain patterns get passed on, generation after generation after generation. Break the chain today. Meet anger with sympathy, contempt with compassion, cruelty with kindness. Greet grimaces with smiles. Forgive and forget about finding fault. Love is the weapon of the future.” –Yehuda Berg
Hurt people hurt people. That one line really got me.
I had to repeat it a couple of times to see that it was not a typo or missing a punctuation mark. It comes from this beautiful quote that my friend Jacob Nordby posted on Facebook the other day, and is one terrific memory aid if I’ve ever seen one.
Whenever you feel a rant or shame wave coming on because someone has offended you, overlooked you, neglected you, challenged you, abused your trust, or even abused you in unthinkable ways… guess what? You can shift the energy of attack with this simple four word reminder: hurt people hurt people.
The pain that is being flung is not about you.
And one of the best ways to nip a deep-seeded pattern in the bud begins with noticing it as soon as it happens.
It begins with being (fiercely) vigilant of the thoughts you spin – those fearful, derailing, low-vibrational energetic “weapons” – that not only keep you stuck, but have a way of sticking around. Literally.
It begins with remembering that as horrible as some people are sometimes, their actions are filtered through their own low-frequency veil of hurt, stuckness, and pain.
A little mindful detachment repeated over and over again goes a long way to shifting (and lifting) things for everybody – for good. Just imagine a world where we are all compassionately minding our own business (as it were), and allowing others to mind theirs.
Photo Credit: Wave by Clark Little
