What you don’t like in someone else you don’t like in yourself.

I’ve heard this phrase/ saying/ life lesson-whatever you want to call it before and usually am confused by it. I would always think, maybe what I don’t like about the other person is that they’re just…a jerk.  Does it have to be some really deep thing? It wasn’t until I ended up reading an article on toxic people and the lessons they present to you, in addition to reading that we can be the teacher, student or conduit of a lesson in Iyanla Vanzant’s, Tapping the Power Within, that I finally began to understand the phrase.

Sometimes you don’t like people because they just don’t jive with you and you with them.  It’s the people who really push your buttons and irritate/anger you to the highest degree that you should pay more attention to.  They aren’t the ones who you roll your eyes about, they are the ones you fume about.  You just about hate them but wouldn’t say hate because hate is such a strong word.  They are the ones. They are your mirror. (Surprise!)

I had an experience once, where someone irked me so bad.  I mean really bad.  When I said out loud what bothered me so much about them (they didn’t use their power or voice in a meaningful way), I realized I was talking about myself.  They were my mirror.  They were reflecting back to me my struggle and I was able to see it when I let the words sink in and became open enough to my own inner challenges.  What I didn’t like in them was really what I didn’t like about my state of being at the time.  They were showing me me.  I believe it was time to do something about it and I couldn’t get the lesson any other way.  And I surely began working on it.  What you don’t like in someone else you don’t like in yourself?  Yeah, that’s right.

What about you?  Have you ever had that experience? Are you aware of your own stuff?