As for what other people are thinking or saying or doing, just remember: They can never take you to heaven or hell. If you’re going to go to heaven or hell, it’s through your own doing.

"As for what other people are thinking or saying or doing, just remember: They can never take you to hell. If you’re going to go to hell, it’s through your own doing. They can’t take you to heaven, either. If you are going to heaven, it’s through your own doing. And you don’t have to worry about heaven and hell in the afterlife. Right here and now, you can see it. Other people can do horrible things, but it’s only when you let what they’re doing get into your mind, and then you start doing horrible things along with them: That’s when it really gets bad. At the same time, no matter how good other people may be, you can always be worried about how much longer that goodness is going to last. Sometimes, the better the person is, the more you’re worried: “It can’t last. So I’m just going to have to hold on to them.”

The issue isn’t what other people are doing, it’s how you’re managing your own mind. This is why you have to give importance, give weight to this ability to stay centered right here inside, because when you’re operating from here, you can see things a lot more clearly. With less worry and flurry cluttering up your mind, you can also have a better idea of what you can do to respond to any given situation in an appropriate way, without having to pre-plan it, or worry about it too much. It comes because the mind is in a spot where it sees things a lot more clearly and quickly, with less of a sense of being under the power of other things."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Giving Weight"

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