I came across a quote this morning that I can’t pass on sharing.
Selfishness is not living your life as you wish. It is asking others to live their lives as you wish. -Oscar Wilde
Wow! I really like this thought because it redirects the voice in my head that cautions me to not spend too much time on self development. The voice that grew from others telling me to not be self involved and spending time focused on your self… because it’s selfish.
In retrospect, and with the wisdom of this statement from Oscar Wilde, I can identify that the person giving me their “wisdom” was in fact being selfish. They were saying, “I disagree with your priorities, you should use my priorities instead.”
It’s taken me years to be okay with self development not being a form of narcissism. I remember asking in a yoga philosophy class, “Why are we spending all this time on self development and introspection when the world needs our help? Shouldn’t we be helping the world.” The answer I got was another powerful awareness shift for me. So powerful that I still remember vividly, 8 years later, as if I was sitting in from of the teacher asking again:
When seek to help the world, but we ourselves are a mess, we make the world a mess.
When we seek to be at peace and balance within ourselves, that radiates out to the world and helps the world approach peace and balance.
We must live our lives as we wish an seek balance in ourselves or we will only spread imbalance.
Go inside today. Seek peace. It’s not selfish, it is part of the great work we strive to accomplish in this life.
Namaste,
Kevin
