I'm going to make a statement.

You can decide if you agree with me or not.

Think about it for a minute.

Here’s the statement:

Everybody is annoying.

Not some people.

Not most people.

Everybody.

I want you to reflect for a moment…have you ever had a relationship with somebody that didn't annoy you?

Nope.

Think of your close family. Have your parents or grandparents ever bugged you or annoyed you? Anybody have a parent that didn't annoy them?

Have you ever had a friendship with somebody that there was never an annoyance, there was never a conflict?

How about an intimate relationship? Have you ever had an intimate relationship with somebody that didn't at times annoy you?

How about a Dharma teacher? Have you had a Dharma teacher that didn't annoy you? I haven't and I've had lots of Dharma teachers. They've all annoyed me at times, and I'm sure I have annoyed all of you at times.

Maybe you have had a different experience than I have, but I think that it might be true that everyone is annoying at times.

And, maybe it's not the completely the right frame to say that other people are annoying.

It's probably much more wise for us to take full personal responsibility for being annoyed by humans.

But how often do we think that everyone else is the problem? Think, “if the annoying people just weren't so annoying, I'd be happy.”