Self-Awareness and the Horrible Neighbor

If you’ve ever had a horrible neighbor you’re familiar with someone who lacks self-awareness. People who behave negatively don’t know what else to do so they work out the hurts from their past and present on everyone they encounter. Here are some of the characteristics of horrible neighbors:

• Pursue self-gratification before thinking of others.
• Don’t consider other people’s needs.
• Lack empathy.
• Poor boundaries.
• Arbitrary rule setting, what’s OK for them to do is not tolerated from others.
• Act like bullies.
• Lack basic interpersonal skills like communication or problem solving.
• Refuse to change behavior, don’t believe in change.
• Think the world is a tough, hard place and that everyone is out to get them.
• History of poor relationships.

The reason I’m writing about this topic is that it’s a powerful test of your ability to take care of yourself rather than getting sucked into another person’s negativity. For example, you have the ability to steer clear of your neighbor’s negative behavior by:

• Realizing it’s not about you.
• Learning how to manage your emotions.
• Reminding yourself how great you are.
• Healing your own hurts.
• Deciding that you’re not going to react negatively.
• Living your life positively.
• Behaving with kindness and compassion.
• Continuing to pursue your dreams.
• Making plans to leave this mess behind.
• Focusing on your own personal growth.

You have a lot of power to behave any way you want when you encounter people who try to make things difficult. What will you do to move past the horrible neighbor?

Cheers,

Guy