When feelings of either arrogance or worthlessness appear, how do we react?
Sometimes arrogant persons just push our buttons, we get irritated, frustrated and angry. We lose our peace of mind, sense of self-worth and start talking bad things about them.
But why lose yourself in those negative emotions? Remember that an arrogant person is in fact feeling unwell. In reality he is not like that inside. When a person is acting that way, he is in fact in dissonance and suffering. Brush it off of your shoulders, connect to your own compassion and forgive, don't let that person's behavior disturb your peace of mind. Reactions only feed the arrogance, so stop wasting your energy on reacting and forgive yourself for feeling negative emotions towards him.
Let's look into arrogance. What is it made of, why does it create so much suffering? There is two things. Arrogance usually indicates that the person is clinging on to achievements, past events or to something that is yet to happen. He becomes disconnected from this moment. The other obvious thing is that the person values himself apart from others and this will result in disconnection with everyone around him. This brings only a sense of loneliness, even if he'd be in a middle of a crowd. An arrogant person has lifted himself above the others and is in fact in constant fear of falling down. It's a struggle and a burden.
Now see that if a person is feeling worthless the results are actually the same. It is equally bad. The person values himself differently, becomes disconnected from the surroundings and the same anxiety arises. He ends up feeling desolated comparing himself to others. Living in the fear of becoming ashamed or feeling ashamed, it's all the same because the mind ends up revolving around shame.
Both of these sensations are illusions. If you ever find yourself experiencing them, don't jump from one extreme to the other in panic, just come back calmly to the center. Remember that achievements and failures come and go. You are already complete with or without those goals and medals, they do not define your value. You are much more, don't be afraid of it. Connect to your surroundings and the people around you without barriers and these feelings of inequality disappear.
