take a step back and breathe

I've been pondering lately why we 'freak out' (for lack of a better term) when we're encountered by an opinion that is different from our own. Speaking for myself, when I'm met with a voice saying things that conflict with my own views my heart rate elevates, I might start sweating...on and on. I breath, I calm down, I observe these reactions and then choose how to react or not to react. I think as we grow up we create an identity based on how our parents thought, based on our friends, our schools, our teachers, any authority figures, the media...any voices we hear or are exposed to. If I was born somewhere else I would have a totally different identitiy then the one I have now. I really love who I am, but I realize a lot of my identity is based on all the beautiful influcenes I've had through out life. We identify with our beliefs about reality and when they are questioned we feel our sense of self is being questioned. All of us humans are like mirrors for each other reflecting back ourselves at ourselves. We are all a lot more than our beliefs too, beliefs and percpetions come and go. If something someone says makes you angry/sad/joyful its because it's reflecting a part of you that wants to be heard and seen. I propose letting go of the idea that we all need to match somehow, that if your beliefs are different from mine I need to get upset and make you think the way I do. Lets all be different colors of the same rainbow.