“Stop waiting for the right person to come into your life. Be the right person to come to someone’s life”
- Leo Babauta
For her
Thinking about life
Something feels missing, she says
Fill that void, I will
Oneness of self and environment
Esho funi
Did you ever notice…
How much influence you have over your environment?
And how much your environment influences you?
I just read a chapter from The Buddha in Your Mirror: Practical Buddhism and the Search for Self
I went to a party Saturday night and although there were a lot of people, I felt very alone. Now, I’m wondering why…
The atmosphere of the party was very inviting. The place was decorated with brightly coloured ‘spider webs’ everywhere I looked. Easy going music was playing, people were dancing and everybody was having a good time. For a time, I was having a good time.
But then…
I remember feeling out of place and thinking about being the fifth wheel. Although the atmosphere and music influenced me in a good way, I was so set in my ways that the spell of negativity could not be broken.
“Generally, if an individual finds other people unfriendly, it is often because he or she is provoking that reaction, one way or the other.”
Now I realise that I must have (subconsciously) behaved a certain way towards people, who then in return (subconsciously) behaved a certain way towards me?
Our behaviour can seem very subtle to you and me, but they have major influence on our interactions. Every action results in an equal, but opposite reaction. Think about what this means and imagine how much control we have over our own environments.
“Similarly, if that person becomes friendlier, the people around that person will begin to react differently […] as though gazing into our own image reflected in a mirror.”
Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? And how did you handle it?
Let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear your story.
*Quotes from The Buddha in Your Mirror: Practical Buddhism and the Search for Self
**Original image by yitux
