Today's Reflection:
All the criticisms, be them negative or positive, are gifts to me. But, in fact, there is no aspect of negativity in critical comments. The only condition is honesty. I believe that even if someone gets a criticism too harsh and seemingly vindictive, it is not so. Even so it remains a gift for we, who are committed to be 'learners Forever', should always be seeking pleasure in taking and accepting them, instead of fruitlessly justifying our ways. According to Sufis, our self or nafs abhors criticism that is directed towards oneself. And it is not a Sufi truth, but truth in general.
Last year when we presented our Life Thinking Paper in class, each student gave a comment on others LTP. When going through criticisms put on my LTP, I tried to surpass my commotions, which are reactions to 'criticisms'. I felt a positive change in my thought-patterns. The mistakes I couldn't detect were detected by my classmates. Value criticisms friends, value them.
You can become a victim of
hindsight and mistakes, and that happens in real life too often. You are fortunate to have a group of persons, with whom you've deep personal relations who counsel you, point out your mistakes and provide you with refreshing insights, may them be your parents, friends, mentors, or teachers, or anyone else. You are fortunate, because
one of the best ways of avoiding hindsight and mistakes is by receiving counsels from people with whom we've emotional bonds. Social networking therefore must be based on the idea of emotions, nearness and openness. Only then we can have authentic and honest opinions and counsels, to capitalize on. (This idea is derived from a seminal kind of HBR article on authentic leadership.)
Nonetheless, if you can't do away with it. See below.
Principle-centered leadership is a very important character and every leader should be principle-centered. Principle-centered leaders are men and women of character who work on the basis of natural principles and build those principles into the center of their lives, into the center of their relationships with others, into the center of their agreements and contracts, into their management processes, and into their mission statements.
