“I tidied up my point of view. I got a new attitude.”
~ Lyrics: Sharon T. Robinson / Jon Gilutin / Bunny Hull.
For a multitude of reasons, I really like the purpose of ‘self-responsibility’ implied in this quote. (Sing it, Patti!) I find I am getting weary of hearing about who’s-to-blame, and hearing “did you see that?;” “why did they…,” “they shouldn’t…,”. (And yes, I heard recently “there outta be a law!” Hahahaha!! Really? Really? As if there aren’t enough of those already?!)
What if, let’s play the make-believe game here, what if everybody stopped looking outside themselves for someone/something to point a finger at? What if, and remember ~ it’s a game, what if individuals looked at what is occurring in their own personal life, and start there? What if everyone played make-believe ~ and decided to dress up and be Gandhi-for-a-day ~ adhering to the famous quote: YOU must be the change you wish to see in the world.
Wow. What if.
Change begins at home ~ the internal home; within the self. (T’ain’t nuttin’ “out there” that’s going to fix the ‘in here.’ Except….the ‘you’ in here.) And … so many are ‘Home Alone’ (ha!) and scared to live. The creaky furnace is someone breaking in. The once-famous salad bar is now a petri dish of botulism. Someone’s pepper-sneeze or hairball-cough is the plague coming to get’cha. The art of catastrophizing (coined by Albert Ellis) has reached new dimensions. It has become the new focus ~ especially focusing ‘out there.’ The “new normal,” as it were. Now THAT’s truly frightening.
I know this state of mind I see pervasively around me is one of the many reasons I celebrate the tools of 12-step, mindfulness training, RET, LoA, and other self-focused teachings. The overall message is not about the ‘them,’ it’s about the ‘me.’ Not ego-centric, or Big-Me/screw-you (or even Little-Me/big bad you). Rather, these and other modalities are recognition that one’s belief structures, old teachings, old points of view, and those matching attitudes, get in the way of self-responsibility. Huh. The aura of feigned helplessness [read: anger, resentments, judgments, and wanting power and control] holds no-one in good stead. Least of all the self-identified voices of ain’t-it-awful-ers. Huh, again.
Some folks I’m (moderately) acquainted with consider self-help readings and teachings, counseling, introspection, support groups, etc as “woo woo.” Hey ~ don’t poo-poo the woo! The sanest, funniest, most genuinely helpful people I know have done, as I call it, their ‘ownwork.’ (Kinda like homework, yet the ‘catch’ is that it’s not for an A, to please the teacher, or for a spot on some Dean’s List. This homework gets you a Life; one that is authentic, pleasing-to-core-principles, self-focused, connected, and most of all, honest.) Alrighty! Woo On!!
(Not to be confused with Wuhan. Ok ~ my ‘sick’ sense of humor, I know! Simply a way to lighten up and diminish the catastrophizing.)
So ~ Take a chance. Self-focus, delve into one’s own little-green-monsters doing the back-stroke in the goo that occupies the brainspace, choose to divest self of the goblins that aren’t real anyway. Pat yourself on the back. This is courage!! Good on you. A great way to get a life; preferably your own.
And … this new life??? Your life. Sounds empowering. Stands strong. Bends gently. Laughs genuinely. What’s not to love about living this type of life?! Wow! Sing it again, Patti.