No Out There Out There

Beth asked her class a series of questions...none of which I'm going to answer. No reason to. However, she said something that I've thought about today. She said, "I ask myself these questions all the time."

I started thinking...what questions do I ask myself all the time. Especially, what question do I ask myself all the time that has the potential to change my life? I actually have an answer! That question is:

What is it about MYSELF that makes me react the way I do to a person/situation/thing?

I believe that there is no "out there out there." If I react to, say, a person in a negative way, then I have to look inside myself to figure out why I am doing so--I don't look out at the person and ask why they are the way they are...I have no control over that. But I do have control of myself and in pondering through the question as to why I am reacting like I am, I have come to some incredible self-understandings.

Once I gain an understanding of myself in the situation, I gain the ability to understand the other person and can release any negative thoughts or feelings I may have.

The struggle to understand myself, though, is difficult and sometimes doesn't resolve itself. But when it does...

...I am at peace.

There really is no out there out there.