Living Inside Out
Hey family!
This past week has been extremely challenging for me. It seems like I’ve been met with one stressful situation after the next, and it’s been increasingly difficult to focus on work, write creatively, or find enjoyment in my usual hobbies.
I was faced with the challenge of bringing my attention and focus back to my internal environment, despite the apparent chaos and disorder of what’s going on around me. And though it’s difficult, I believe that it’s one of the most important skills that we can add to our life toolbox: learning to shift our perspective to one that is centered around our peace of mind. In other words, it would benefit all of us to get REALLY good at bringing ourselves back to center.
I understand that the way in which I experience life depends more on my own perspectives than the actual situations I find myself in. So if I want to have a better experience, I need to focus on bettering my mind.
My external environment is a direct reflection of my internal environment, my mind, and my state of being. How I interpret events around me is often an indicator of where my mind is at. Therefore, any attempts I make to control things outside of me are misguided, and I should focus my energy on maintaining my inner peace instead. Naturally, this contradicts my first instinct to rush to fix whatever is happening. But as a gentle reminder (to myself and to you), all of the peace, solutions, and answers we’ll ever need are found within ourselves.
A while ago, I referenced this quote from Louise Hay: “I don’t fix my problems. I fix my thinking and my problems fix themselves.” I still stand true to this, because I know that the only thing I can truly control is my response to these situations, shifting my perspective, and safe guarding my inner peace.
So this week, I encourage you to look inwards when things get chaotic. I know it may sound backwards, and it’s living inside out. So to help a bit, I’m leaving you with three quotes that have helped me a lot recently:
“Within you there is a stillness and sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.” -Hermann Hesse
“Today, I escaped anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions - not outside.”-Marcus Aurelius
“We are often more frightened than hurt; and we suffer more in imagination than reality." -Seneca
Reflection question: How can you focus more on reshaping your thoughts/perspectives/judgements about a situation as opposed to trying to fix it out of fear, worry, or feeling uncomfortable?
