“What we can do in our everyday life is something very simple. First, we should be careful not to disturb or upset our relations with others, even a little. We should not allow ourselves to be swayed by how much we like or dislike a person, which indicates the degree to which our stance is dependent on that person. For example someone might might speak to me rudely and I ignore him. Or someone else might speak to me kindly and I embrace him. In both cases my responses are determined by the other person, which means that at any moment I can be troubled, become angry, lose my inner peace, or otherwise be thrown off balance, because I have no control over what people say or do to me.

+ Elder Aemilianos of Simonopetra