Have you ever said, “that person gets on my nerves” or “so and so pushed my buttons.”? The important part of these two statements is that they are ‘your’ nerves and ‘your’ buttons. You see we often blame someone outside of ourselves for upsetting us or making us feel a certain way. But the truth is, you are the one responsible for how you are feeling. When another person ‘pushes your buttons’ what they are really showing you is that you have a giant button and you are the one pushing it. They are just the mirror to show you said button. If you didn’t have said button, whatever they were doing wouldn’t bother you, wouldn’t affect you, and you certainly wouldn’t be wasting your energy feeling something about it.
This is a good thing; let me explain. People come into your life to teach you something about yourself; something you need to learn from, grow out of, or let go of. When you resist this, it causes all sorts of frustration, suffering and pain. A button is nothing more than an indicator of something you need to let go of or shift out of. It’s a trigger that is telling you what you are focusing on isn’t aligned with your desires and therefore causing you to feel bad. What if you changed the way you perceived this person or situation? If you didn’t let the cause for this button pushing person or situation to land on you, it wouldn’t affect you and viola – no more pushed button.
