Dear Doctor Trinh,
I am an executive assistant and sometimes my superiors treat me without consideration. What are the essential principles to put into action at work when relations with our colleagues are difficult?
Doctor Dinh Hy Trinh: Dear Madam,
Each human relationship is a special relationship, but the same principles can be applied: self-control, understanding and benevolence. In case of difficulty, faced with a hostile, aggressive or contemptuous attitude, one must first control oneself, not react immediately, extinguish one's anger; then try to understand the other, imagining yourself in their place, and also examine yourself. At the end of this effort, a feeling of benevolence and appeasement may appear. It's a lot of work on yourself, difficult and long, but you realize at the end of the road that victory over others is first and foremost a victory over yourself.
Good luck.