Be the Change You Want to See In Yourself

A friend posted the following quote, and I wrote the below in reaction.
--quote--
"Perhaps the source of your discontent lies in your attachment to how things should be instead of accepting how things are.”

--my response--
On many levels, I agree (that whole "be zen and accept where you are thing," yeah, that would be cool). On others, not so much. I feel like agitation or discontentment with what is often make for progress. When I don't like what is, I change it. If do nothing, then I (on some level) become part of the problem.

Now that I'm thinking about it ... yes, there are times when other people are involved that I land in positions where I can't do anything. I've said for a long time that you can't make someone feel something they don't. You can't make them love you. You can't make them feel sympathy for you. You can't make them feel sorry if they hurt you and don't feel sorry for having done so. But, when it is your life or your path you are discontented with, yeah, I think you have a responsibility to yourself to kick your own butt and make the changes you need to make to make things better. I have been going back to that one sentence I read recently that has made things so much more clear and accessible to me. "What is one thing I can do right now to improve my situation?" It might not fix things completely. It might not make a huge difference in the moment. But even a tiny action now can lead to a great shift later.

To me, that's critical.

I believe in those tiny shifts. I believe in becoming aware of patterns. I believe that the smallest action can be revolutionary if it changes how I perceive things because it will ultimately change I see the world and how I behave in it.

So that means I claim responsibility for myself. And that I'm at peace with.