Inside — Out!

All meaningful and lasting change starts on the inside and works its way out.

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” ~ Mother Teresa

Just on the eve of yesterday, while I was rolling on the bed feeling overwhelmed by things and almost lost in my world. A friend dropped by my WhatsApp to check up on me. To be frank, I almost let that message join a couple of hundreds that are unresponded to, but something in me just push me to respond.

I’d respond and we actually hopped on a call. A call which later went on to last roughly an hour was what later became a major highlight of the entire 24 hours in the day. The call felt so personal that I might possibly not forgive myself if I had missed it (I wouldn’t have known that truly 😑).

A major highlight from our discussion was the inevitability and goodness of change. Change has been established as a natural phenomenon and a universal concept that takes place in our lives as humans. Although the results from a change might be desirable or not, it occurs anyways.

But there is the pact of man to make change look like what they want, How? (you might want to ask). By taking charge of situations. Then again, how can anyone take charge of the situation of things around them to force desirable change? By working on things (most especially yourself) Inside-Out.

Inside-Out translate to turning a thing in such a manner that the inner surface becomes the outer. So the quality of what is inside is what is reflected in the world. In essence, the external environment is controlled by so many uncontrollable factors which make controlling change from the outside hard with support from another source.

But inside of us is where we are in charge, where we get to control what goes in and what we purge out. So it is easy to design and create the sort of change we desire to a greater extent from our inside.

When we approach big change in our lives from the inside out, it means we unearth, understand and then begin to address the thought patterns and limiting beliefs about ourselves and our world that got us here.

John C. Maxwell once said, “most people want to change the world in order to improve their lives, but they should start by changing their own inner world”. All meaningful and lasting change starts on the inside and works its way out.

Inside-Out explains the concept that reminds us to embrace our wholeness, to permit ourselves to not be “okay,” and to allow those around us to work through their emotional realisations. It is not about avoiding uncomfortable feelings, but rather about facing them in order, to be honest with ourselves and grow.

If we can all just realize that we are responsible for our lives and that we are capable of creating such amazing relationships that give our lives meaning, then we won’t have to accept mediocrity.

We have the power to change our lives; we do not have the power to change others. When we take this approach, our world is better for it. Real change happens from the inside out. It is the greatest gift. And I believe it is available to every one of us.

“Never over-estimate your power to change others, because you can’t. Never underestimate your power to change yourself, because you can.”
~Wayne Dyer

The post appeared first on Substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/mustaphalawal/p/inside-out?r=19xo2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web