I Can’t Change The World, But I Can Change Myself

Ruminations 3: Let our minds be mirrors so we can see within…

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How aptly did Sant Kabir Das say:

“I looked for evil all around, I could not find evil;

But when I searched my heart, I found none more evil than myself.”

I remember learning the many beautiful Sant Kabir Das’ sayings in my childhood, but its realisation came to me like a bolt from the blue on the demise of a very good person.

Why is it that we don’t realise all the good qualities of a person when they are with us and why do we blow their negative qualities out of proportion when they live amongst us?

Let’s not point a finger at others — inadvertently three fingers are pointing back at us…

Human nature is such that we tend to look at what good we can say about a person when they are no longer with us. This is exactly what we all do at the loss of someone who matters to us.

There were countless times I had seen them and all I could remember was their smiling face and their loving, caring and respectful demeanour. They were there for me at all times whenever I needed help, I could count on them.

God states in the Qur’an:

If God were to punish men for their wrongdoing, He would not leave, on the earth a single living creature…

So no human being is infallible.

Yet, we dwell so much on the negatives of people, that it clouds our ability to see the good — quite often it is so much larger than the bad. But our obsession with seeing the negatives, dwelling upon it, talking about it blinds our ability to see the good — and sometimes it is too late…

Lesson Learnt: When you see a negative quality — don’t talk about it to anyone other than the person with that quality — if required. Quite often talking with others makes it blow out of proportion that it blinds the ability to see their good.

Just as good radiates good — the reverse is also true! When we discuss a person’s negative attributes or write about them, others around join the discussion to further tarnish that person’s image. Unfortunately, this is human nature. People feel the need to be included in a discussion and by agreeing and contributing to it, the issue is often blown out of proportion.

Instead the discussion could have a completely different meaning, when we could respond with, “I am not free of defects. I have a lot to work on myself. They have a lot of good in them that we could focus on.”

This attitude could turn the whole discussion to a more positive attitude to all concerned.

By doing this we will be doing a big favour to ourselves — Think Positive and Positivity will follow.