Change

“Everyone thinks of changing the world. No one thinks about changing himself.”

-Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

We can all rattle off a number of things going on in the world that we just don’t like. And we can do the same thing for our communities, our schools, our neighborhoods, even our own homes. Thinking of all of these things can be frustrating and overwhelming. It then becomes easy to point our fingers and blame or shrug our shoulders and give up.

But here’s the truth: When you change yourself you do change the world. Even one slight change in yourself has a major ripple effect on everyone you touch. You will never know its extent and many times you might not even detect that it is happening, but that doesn’t change the truth of it. Today, you have a choice. You can shake your head in judgment at something you don’t like, or you can do the only thing you really can do – change yourself.

–Hal Runkel, LMFT author of ScreamFree Parenting