Day 12: How to Read What Your Responses to Others Tell You

Other people are data. Not primarily for what they reveal about themselves — for what your responses to them reveal about you.

Pick one person who consistently produces a strong response in you. Irritation, envy, admiration, discomfort — any strong and somewhat predictable response. The question is not what they are doing. The question is what the consistency of your response indicates about your own structure.

Envy tends to locate something you want that you have not acknowledged wanting. Irritation tends to locate something you do that you have not acknowledged doing, or something you refuse to do that you are being confronted with. Admiration tends to locate something you value more than you have admitted.

Write one accurate sentence about what your response to this person is telling you. Apply it to yourself, not to them.