Oh, did I ruffle some feathers? It seems my last post on Substack got a bit of traction, and—surprise, surprise—some people were instantly offended by my tone and, let’s be honest, my undeniable sass.
I get it. I’m not everyone’s cup of tea. No one is. But one of my biggest pet peeves with the whole New Age, “love and light” spiritual crowd is this bizarre belief that there’s a one-size-fits-all approach to everything. Sound familiar? It’s the same issue we see in modern medicine—treating everyone the same instead of recognizing individuality.
Here’s the thing: a lot of people seem to have a knee-jerk reaction to anything that doesn’t sound or look exactly the way they expect. And that reaction? More often than not, it’s just fear dressed up as offense. Instead of admitting, Hey, this challenges me, and that’s uncomfortable, they go into defense mode. It makes sense.
Now, I know I’ve got a sharp tongue. I’m direct, blunt, and—let’s be real—society doesn’t exactly find that adorable in a woman. So, people often react more to how I say something than to what I’m actually saying. That’s ok, it’s not my job to teach people how to listen. My own work has been about learning to consciously listen—sitting with my reactions and asking myself, Why does this bother me?
I had to retrain myself to pause, resist that gut-level offense, and actually hear the speaker. It’s kind of like being mad at someone for looking at your phone and catching you cheating. You’re not mad about the truth—you’re mad that you got caught. The message is real, but because you don’t like how it was delivered, you get to dismiss it. Convenient, right?
So, my practice has been to focus on the message, not the packaging. I’m sarcastic, I laugh a lot, and honestly, I’ve been around long enough to know not to take life (or myself) too seriously. I trust who I am, I stand by my values, and I fully embrace my sassy mouth.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this little talk I gave at a Unity Church a few years back. I share one of my favorite lessons from a teacher who helped me love myself—sass and all.
Oh, and do yourself a favor: look up Bob Newhart’s “Stop It” clip. It’s probably one of the best spiritual teachings you’ll ever get. Trust me. It’s something I have to tell myself often.
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