Be the Change no. 46

“You can’t change the people around you BUT you can change the people around you.”

Be the Change.

I am a reflection of the people with whom I invest my time and energy. These people show a lot about who I am and what I value. I cannot change those people BUT I can change who those people are. And that is probably one of the most difficult problems I face in life because a lot of those interactions are important for my everyday routine. So changing that routine is an important way for me to change who those people are and what they reveal about what I truly love.

I have changed a lot over the past fourteen days. Prior to this I was holding on to my past a lot. I was remembering the times before transferring schools and comparing my time there to my time now. There was a lot of nostalgia about that time just like I compare my place now with the other places and prior times in my life. The difference in the past fourteen days is that I no longer think about those times as better or more valuable than my time and place now. I look back on them with fondness and with love for what they have allowed me to grow and mature into today. BUT I no longer want to go back to then. I no longer have an unrealistic memory of how good it was or how wonderful I thought it was. Those memories are tinted and biased with the highlights and not the reality of what they truly were.

I get a little lost in perspective when thinking about the past. I tend to just gloss over the bad parts and focus on what I enjoyed about those times. BUT, I can see looking around me now that those situations helped me build into where I am today. I needed those experiences to build the better conversations, the better thoughts, the better habits, the better relationships that I have today. Without them I wouldn’t know and value the people that I have in my life today that are great influences in my direction and journey. Folks that are supportive, folks that are working, folks that are changing, folks that are helpful, folks that are positive, folks that are inspirational. If you aren’t finding yourself around those folks, then you need to, as I did, change the folks around you.

And a lot of that happens by just changing you. A powerful tool in attracting the folks you want and repelling the folks you don’t is just in changing you. I am amazed at how my social media and personal life interactions have changed since adopting a spirit of joy and abundance. Adding in a spirit of interest in the Bible and God and the playing field gets even smaller and more intimate. BUT it attracts the people and the voices I want to hear. That change attracts the voices I need in my life and removes most of the naysayers and critics. There is no better repellent for the evil in this world, for the mundane, for the trivial, than the power of God in my life. It is quite illuminating. There is a lot of truth in John 3 when he states, “Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” The light illuminates all that we want to be around us and chases away the darkness. So, I am finding myself even more reflective these days of the light that I choose to surround me. And embracing that light, that truth, that change makes all the difference in the company I keep.

Have the day you want. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #MyBodyMyChoice #MakeYourselfGreatAgain #BeTheChange