Well, finally a topic that I can use…you might be saying. If you could just change a few people in your life things would be so much better, right? If they would just listen to you or if they would just use the tools they already know about or if they would just follow the rules, step up to the plate, take responsibility for their lives…then you would feel better.
Eric Butterworth in his book Celebrate Yourself! says this: “The attempt to change people is the greatest energy waste of all, not because people can’t change, but because change is a growth process from within.”
The bottom line is that we cannot change other people by telling them what they should do or how they should be. The strategies of sarcasm, threats, anger, indifference, frustration, resentment and the like do nothing to change another person. While we cannot change others, we can support change in another…through the practice of elevating our own thinking, our consciousness.
When we see other people and think or say things like They’ll never amount to anything or She will never change or He is so pitiful or He just gets on my last nerve!…we reinforce the current struggle. When we feel anger, judgment and resentment toward others for how they are…we help to perpetuate the current condition.
As difficult as it might be, regardless of how the ‘other’ is acting or being, we can be a positive influence in another’s life. We can choose to see beyond the current condition or circumstance by shifting our own mind. We can see potential and possibility…for healing, peace and ease, love, success, and happiness. We can sit in our own stillness, take a deep breath and know for sure that there is a greater possibility than what we currently see.
We can practice this in our own life as well. The current…whatever…is the current one, it is temporary. Shift your mind into possibility thinking by seeing beyond. You might be surprised at how powerful you are!
Peace always
Paula
