Day 661: Why Not Me?

David Hochman shares his experience of facing doing something he feared doing and asking himself "why not me?" as a way to face that fear and actually do it. As he describes towards the end of his Talk, this can be applied not only when facing your fears, but in overcoming some hurdle that you have been staring at for a while, like letting go of resentment.

We tend to focus so much on why we are the way we are and why we can never change - asking yourself why not me? pulls you out of that pattern and places you in a better position to make objective observations and assessments of you and your life.

No matter what's happening, how you're feeling, what you're thinking - you am responsible for the shape and outcome of your life. I'd like to take this one step further: not only are you responsible for your own life, you are also responsible for all life in the sense that your actions (or inactions) have an effect on this world and on peoples' lives.If you are focused on achieving only your personal goals and desires without regard for how that affects other people, then that is the effect you have on the world. Your thoughts, words and actions ripple out and touch so much more than you imagined to be possible.

Instead of thinking of all the reasons why you shouldn't care or do something to change the world, start thinking of all the reasons why it should be you, why you should care, what you should do. We are all interconnected and interdependent. The actions we take and the choices we make touch many lives and determine in part the path and destination of our journey together. If everyone in the world capable of change is living only for their own desires, then they are creating a world and culture that caters only for personal desires, personal enlightenment, personal empowerment. If more people were to fulfill their responsibility to mankind and all life on earth and actually live not only for themselves, but for all life, considering what would best benefit all people and lifeforms then that will be the world they're creating. Certainly it may take time, a very long time. There have been many years gone now and many people who have contributed to making the world the way it is - undoing this and creating a new foundation will not be achieved overnight - maybe not even in one lifetime.

We are all at each other's mercy. We are all waiting for each other to help create a better world. We are all waiting for each other to join hands. The more people who stand together the greater the change can be - but so long as we're focused on why we shouldn't change then we will never see the opportunities for us to actually create change. Change will not just happen to us or to the world. Sitting around and waiting for God or aliens to change our mess will contribute only to the continuation of the mess. We are the ones who have to clean it up and reorganize it into a better system that will benefit and support everyone.