a philosophical one, at last

Change must happen within you before it can happen around you...

I'm in a book study at work, and we're reading "The Difference Maker" by John C. Maxwell. Our latest chapter contained the above sentence. It really got me thinking.

Sometimes there is so much in this world that I think needs to change. Apparently I'm going about it in all the wrong way.

In a Peanuts comic strip:

Lucy says to Charlie Brown: "I would like to change the world."

"Where would you start?" Charlie Brown asked her.

Lucy's simple reply: "I would start with YOU."

How much truth there is in that simple comic!! This, I believe, might just be one of the main problems in the world today. Everyone is blaming someone else. Everyone is wanting someone else to change. It's always the other person. We are all guilty of doing this. I am guilty of doing this.

When is the last time you stopped and took at look at yourself, instead of casting the problem as someone else's? What if you began to change the way you react to things? Or change the way you think about things? Or change the way you treat someone? Common sense says that that change will create a trickle effect, touching everything around you. It might take some time. It will definitely take some hard work. But by working to make the change within yourself, you have started something. That something just might possibly create the change you are wanting around you.

Maybe there are some specific changes you are wanting to occur around you. Those things aren't going to change until you change. Take a look in the mirror and ask yourself how YOU can change to make the situation change. And then give it a whirl, try to make some changes in YOU.

Or maybe the changes you want aren't specific in nature. Perhaps you are just generally not enthused with how life is shaping up around you. Maxwell says that "life often gives you whatever you expect from it. That's a pretty profound statement. Are you expecting bad things to happen? Those are what you're going to get. Here's something to try: give yourself 30 days where you will expect the best of everything. The best parking spot, the best table at a restaurant, the best interaction with clients, the best treatment from service people. You might be surprised by what you encounter, especially if you give your very best to others in every situation as well.

We're all a little set in our ways. Change is hard. And kind of scary. I think it's beneficial to remember, though, that we have no control over the people around us, the world around us. The only thing we can control is ourselves. Our reactions. Our treatment of others. Our thoughts. Our attitude.

It's a much better solution to focus our energy on something that we CAN control, instead of getting fed up with the somethings that we CAN'T control.