Finallly feel free...

[WCW]

This came in a daily inspirational email a while ago, I posted it on my thread. Maybe it will help you too.

It's Your Choice
A tale is told about the Buddha, Gautama (563-483BC), the Indian
prince and spiritual leader whose teachings founded Buddhism. This
short story illustrates that every one of us has the choice whether or
not to take personal offence from another person's behaviour.

It is said that on an occasion when the Buddha was teaching a group of
people, he found himself on the receiving end of a fierce outburst of
abuse from a bystander, who was for some reason very angry.

The Buddha listened patiently while the stranger vented his rage, and
then the Buddha said to the group and to the stranger, "If someone
gives a gift to another person, who then chooses to decline it, tell
me, who would then own the gift? The giver or the person who refuses
to accept the gift?"

"The giver," said the group after a little thought. "Any fool can see
that," added the angry stranger.

"Then it follows, does it not," said the Buddha, "Whenever a person
tries to abuse us, or to unload their anger on us, we can each choose
to decline or to accept the abuse; whether to make it ours or not. By
our personal response to the abuse from another, we can choose who
owns and keeps the bad feelings."