“People are anxious to improve their circumstances, but unwilling to improve self,” James Allen.  When it comes to choosing things that heal us over kill us, this is an important reminder.  So often we fixate on the results and not on the steps that get us there that we either get overwhelmed or we haven’t learned to take responsibility for our actions.  We also tend to operate under the “when” theory: when x happens then I’ll be happy.  In the states especially, we are conditioned to live in overwhelm and busyness which are merely activities that keep us moving but not necessarily moving forward.  We make the mistake of assuming that movement means progress but we don’t take the time to validate the direction we’re going in.  We also have a little bit of an issue with entitlement thinking that someone is at fault or someone will come and save us.  We have far more power over our lives than we are taught to believe, and with focus and changing our activities, the outcome changes. 

I spoke the other week about seeing it when we believe it and I realize how little we are trained to believe in ourselves.  Belief in ourselves doesn’t serve the system which creates issues for the top few so it’s dangerous to allow groups of us to be empowered.  I bring this up only because I know how difficult it can be to shift the mind toward worthiness, belief in self, and discipline.  It isn’t entirely our faults that we are unwilling to do the work on ourselves with the distraction, lack of discipline, the indoctrination of unhealthy habits, fear mongering, the things society praises, etc.  In spite of all that, we are still responsible for the results of our lives and until we can accept that, very little will change.  Yes it’s easy to dream of something else, yes it’s easy to hope that someone will give it to us, yes it’s scary to start taking control of ourselves—but that is the only way to achieve what we hope for.  We need to accept that where we are is a direct result of our choices and actions to that point.  There is zero judgement in that statement—if we’re happy where we are, that’s really what matters.  But for those that aren’t, playing victim will not change the circumstances, it will only create more issues.

The whole point of this is that shifting belief, and more importantly shifting focus, is necessary for anything to change in our circumstances.  Wishing for something without action brings us no closer to the desired result.  Taking responsibility isn’t about assigning blame or feeling guilty for any of what has passed in our lives, it’s about making peace with it, taking the lesson from it and moving forward.  Changing circumstances is about aligning with what makes sense and what gives us purpose and that means evaluating our beliefs, behaviors, and actions.  We all want better but sometimes what we think is better isn’t actually what we need.  If we don’t resolve the discrepancy between what we want and our behavior, then we will never get what we want.  It all starts with working on the self and becoming what we say we want.  The circumstances get better when we get better and we get better when we are most authentic.  We don’t need to judge or berate ourselves, we just need the strength to be honest, the courage to start, the fortitude to maintain belief, and the discipline to keep going.  Improving self starts with improving the mind and once we do that, that’s when circumstances improve.  Just start.