"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye" (Matthew 7:3-5). This is one of my favorite passages of the New Testament. Many know that this passage teaches about moral hypocrisy; that one should not judge someone when you yourself commit the same evil. The passage, however, emphasizes a point which many of us forget: the importance of changing oneself instead of the world around us.
For many, happiness is determined by their environments and circumstances. If they had a good day at work and at home, then life is good. However, if one part of someone's day is negative, it often ruins the entirety of the day. When this happens, many believe that the problem is the world around them, which is why we judge it. This is not the case, however. Yes, there are horrible things that happen in our lives that will shake us down to our core, but most of life's problems go back to the individual. I often ask myself, "why am I angry right now?" or "why am I scared to do this?" only to find myself puzzled. It's easy to blame the world around me when I feel anxious, scared, mad or frustrated, but I've found that the problem is actually myself.
I was at work one day working twelve hour shifts five days a week at a warehouse. The work wasn't the hard part but rather the interaction between others. There was a lot of hostility between my co-workers and eventually I found that many were angry at me despite me having done nothing to them. This angered me and I loathed going to work everyday. This made my life a living hell and I wanted to quit everyday. The more I studied myself, however, the more I found that I was angering myself. There was no reason for me to get mad because of others hostility for me. I was mad because others weren't matching what I wanted them to think about me. I would tell myself "I'm a good person, and therefore, I deserve respect." This is stupid reasoning that will make one weak minded. As soon as I realized the problem was my own mindset, I was able to be at peace with myself.
You must take the log out of your own eye before you can interact with the world around you. In other words, you must change yourself. Life's circumstances do not determine your own happiness but rather one's self. When you trace the problems in your life and determine why you do the things you do, you will find yourself at blame. We are so focused on changing the environment around us that we forget what we should really be changing: ourselves. To try to change the world around us when we are at blame only causes more pain and confusion in our lives. In order to change the world, you must change yourself.
