We can overcome our natural urge to control others according to our preconceived notions by simply embracing our primary responsibility: to love wholeheartedly and unconditionally.
Like our attachment to recognition, attachment to control begins early in life. When a young child throws a tantrum, he or she is demonstrating this natural impulse in its unadulterated form. The child wants something—maybe a new toy or to do something fun—but the adults are not cooperating. So, the child cries and screams, and maybe even kicks and punches. In the child’s mind, they think, “If I make enough noise and cause enough trouble, they have to give me what I want!” It’s almost like they are punishing others, in their own childish way, for not cooperating.
Of course, a good parent will not indulge the child for fear of spoiling them. The tantrum ultimately has the opposite effect because the adult must maintain authority in the situation, so the parent’s “no” becomes even more emphatic. In this way, the control impulse is brought into submission as we grow up and learn the rules of socialization, which teach us that good boys and girls must ask politely and behave well if they want to receive gifts and rewards.
Inside, We Are Still Two Years Old
Unfortunately, this impulse to get what we want never really goes away, however. All we do is learn to delay gratification of our desires, and our ways of acting out became more complicated. On the surface, we wish to maintain the illusions that we have the upper hand, so it is rare for an adult to have a “meltdown” of the sort that children display. Even though we now know we must “earn” what we want in life, many situations arise when we think we are owed something or that getting what we want should be automatic.
For example, imagine that a young woman has gotten a promotion. She excitedly calls a friend to tell her about it. The friend says, “That’s nice,” and then moves on quickly to another subject. If she was expecting a greater expression of congratulations was in order, then the young woman will feel some anger or disappointment. Depending on her level of maturity, she may let go of those negative emotions easily, or she may hold it against the friend, thinking a good friend would have responded better. In that way, their friendship becomes compromised, all because of one friend’s desire to control the behavior of the other.
Adults usually don’t throw fits like two-year-olds, but they do throw tantrums of their own kind. Instead of laying down on the floor, these tantrums manifest through insulting remarks, social ostracizing, and other methods of getting people to do what we want them to do.
Everyday Mind Control
Our need to control others usually begins with the word “should.” “She should have said thank you.” “He should behave more humbly toward me.” “She should dress better at this event.” All these are just thoughts in the mind, thoughts not rooted in the ultimate Truth of our being, and yet these are thoughts that negatively affect our relationships with others.
Many people are caught up in a similar impulse regarding religious and political beliefs, as well. In an unawakened state, people often think the whole world “should” have the same beliefs as them (since, after all, they believe they are true), so they look down on those who don’t have the same beliefs. In the most extreme examples, people justify violent or abusive behavior against those who have different beliefs and cultures than they do.
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Dropping the Need to Control
Creating happier, more peaceful relationships with others means giving up the need to control others. When you think about it, all conflicts can be traced back to this attachment, whether they are between nations, couples, strangers, or friends. But how do we really drop this habit since it is so natural to the human state? Well, it’s just a matter of watching ourselves well and curbing our responses to others in a mature way. When a “should” notion runs across our minds, instead of scolding ourselves, we can watch where we take that idea. Maybe our ideas about how others “should” be are relatively true given a particular circumstance. Maybe changing that person would make life better or safer for everyone. But where does that “should” statement lead us? Does it lead us to love someone more or less?
A common response when we don’t get what we want from others is to love less; we withdraw affection, try to force an improvement, or seek to punish them in some way. A better way is to love them anyway without forcing our “shoulds” upon them. This means acknowledging that other people’s choices are their own and that our business in relationship to them is only to love them, not to fix them or to make them see the errors of their ways. If their behaviors are destructive in any way, their lives will show them this in due time; that is not our job. Our mission here is only to love, and dropping our attachment to control is easy if we always keep that thought in mind.
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2 Comments. Leave new
This has inspired me in many ways
live this