When you realize you can't change the world, but you can better yourself.

In a world that widely varies on it's values, beliefs, and lifestyles, how can we ever expect to be heard or find peace? 

It's a crazy question, I know! The impossible of impossibilities I will admit, but I like challenges so I started thinking about how we could accomplish this. Thanks to my spaghetti brain, that thought led to a list of "what ifs"

     What if instead of trying to at peace with the entire world, we started with our neighborhoods and communities?

     And if that is too much, what if we just started within our homes? 

     What if instead of trying to be heard, we first started listening?  

     What if instead of wanting someone to peaceable to us, we started being peaceable to them? 

     What if instead of waiting on the world to change, we became the change that we wanted to see?

So what would it look like if we began to take on the challenges posed in the above questions? Well, I tried (that's a loose term for thought deeply on it and failed often) it, and here is what I found:

Practicing these things hasn't led me to perfection and never will, but it has made me better more often. It's helped me be more compassionate, less insecure, and has led to more fulfillment and contentment which in turn has allowed me to focus on my fulfilling my own purpose. (That's a nice way of saying that I mind my own business more often which really is a move towards world peace!)

And although I'll admit that I'm a little bummed to realize that you and I aren't going to change the world in one big sweep, we can still make incremental changes to better ourselves. This will help us positively impact the few around us. If done by enough people in enough places, it could eventually lead to world domination - umm ... I mean world change. 

Now go and brighten your little piece of the world!