Focusing on yourself does not mean putting other people second or ignoring what's in front of you.
Personal growth does not mean a lack of relationship growth, career growth, or financial growth. There's no law that says when you make yourself better, you can't make others better at the same time.
In fact, it's quite the opposite. Working on yourself is the most selfless thing you could do.
The entire point of going to work on yourself is so you can live a more pleasant experience of life (everyone wants this, no matter race, religion, creed, or age). And when you're genuinely more fulfilled, you bring that to the people, places, and things around you, ultimately contributing to more love, unity, and togetherness of the human race.
When we work on ourselves, we essentially aim to clean up our inner mess so that we can enter the present moment - whatever that may be - with love, acceptance, and a desire to raise the moments around us.
Otherwise, when you've got a bunch of garbage stored inside of you and you're only reacting based on your fears and desires, you're not much good to what's in front of you. Whatever you do will be motivated by your own desire to feel better, albeit temporarily, rather than a natural participation with reality.
This results in you running around from moment to moment, day to day, trying to change the people, places, and things around you, all in hopes of just trying to feel okay. Nearly everyone is doing this. And it's why nearly everyone is unhappy.
We must be selfish, and selfless, by going to work on ourselves.
When we encounter problems, we must first look within to see if the problem is inside. More often than not, it is. And once we fix the problem within, there's nothing to solve outside of us. Our work is done. Occasionally, there is something left to do. But in these cases, we just do it, not because we're not okay, but because it's the very thing in front of us.
Work on yourself. It's the best thing you can do, for yourself, for your family, for your community, and for this beautiful planet we call Earth.
Live with substance!
Gabe Orlowitz
