The very first reflection.
I was meditating today on the most fundamental changes that I have ever seen in people. I have helped people lose weight, I have helped others overcome fears, repair relationships, find clarity and even helped a wonderful woman make a change that she had been putting off for almost 30 years that massively affected her life.
But the greatest changes I have ever seen, are those moments when someone takes their first step inwards. This work is titled reflections because if we are really to journey towards peace, kindness, compassion and love, we have to start with the person we see in the mirror.
It is far too easy to be focused away from ourselves. The world has many things upon which we can shower judgment. The cruelty of life, the foolishness of others, the meanness of the petty and the stupidity of those with whom we do not agree.
I used to spend too many days bemoaning my fate to a universe that did not respond, and blaming any and everyone for my unhappiness.
Eventually, if you are granted enough time, you will finally reach the understanding that the only influence you really have, is on yourself.
With a heavy heart, and with fear and doubt, you turn your focus inward. The outer world becomes quieter, as the actions of others pale in comparison with your own. Those who frustrated you before become less important, as you realize how much you frustrate yourself. The actions of others bother you less, as you become more concerned with how you treat others, rather than how they treat you.
If you are able to find a way to create a peace within, you will then return to a world far different from the one you left.
You will find a greater compassion, replacing scorn. You will discover a deeper kindness, replacing your once shallow disdain. If you are very lucky, you will find a never ending wellspring of love replacing a previous chalice of hatred.
The journey through your own soul, starting with the very first reflection of yourself, is the greatest, most painful, most rewarding and hardest endeavor you can undertake.
But the prize of knowing yourself fully, and liking who you find, is the greatest treasure you can ever receive.
Know yourself, with compassion, and you will have a greater measure of peace than you could have ever thought possible.
It all starts with the first reflection.
A reflection of you.
-- Dr. Alan Barnes
@maddrbmusings