If The Whole World Followed You, Would You Be Happy With Where You Took It?
And If Not, What Can Be Done to Make You Feel Like It Would?
When someone asked me this question, everything changed.
Then I asked another — How much of what I’m doing right now would I recommend to another?
What surprised me most about this question was that my answers didn’t come all that easily.
So, after discovering that many of days were just drifting by, I decided to look more deeply into what I was doing, how I was doing it and who I was doing it with.
It wasn’t always comfortable and it definitely wasn't always easy, but it did provide a whole new perspective on life and it showed me how I wanted to move through it.
Imagine
Imagine for just a moment that you had a video camera on you 24 hours a day for a whole week, where the entire world was watching everything you did, was listening to everything you said, and was then imitating you on all of these things.
How much of what you’re doing right now in your daily life would change? And why?
This kind of a thought experiment isn’t to condemn what we do or how we do it but more to explore the effects of these aspects of our lives to see if they warrant questioning.
Then, if they do, we have something to go off. It’s our own little roadmap.
The idea of a camera following me around for an entire week with the whole population of the world watching my every move sounds about the worse thing that I could ever wish for myself, and anyone else for that matter. But as I continued down this line of thought I was confronted with a self that wanted change to occur — from my emotional body, my spiritual body and my physical body, but oftentimes I found ways out of committing or prioritising these parts of my life, so nothing ever did.
If the whole world was watching and imitating me, especially on certain days during the time where this non-committal self was strongest, I wouldn’t have been so happy with where I’d taken it.
A big part of me knew that there was a better version of myself that was itching to take a new form. The better version could be felt in certain moments but all to often I would turn to other ways to distract myself in a bout of forgetfulness.
The better version of myself that I could see myself as, I would be happy to present to the world, and trust fully that the world could and would benefit from what I was presenting.
So, why don’t I do it more often?
Well, that’s the reason for this kind of a thought experiement. Without these questions I might never know, and certainly may never see the image and vision of my ‘better’ self.
With this being known, however, I can start to move closer towards him. It’s an everyday practise, and one that I certainly haven’t mastered yet, but these questions provide a check in point for me to see if I’m being true to myself, and if I’m not, they invite me to change.
The Great Paradox
The paradox to this line of thinking is that the world is both completely unaware of my existence, and simultaneously, everything I do is of upmost importance.
Through this lense, how we see ourselves and which one we feed often reflects how we live our lives.
If I think of my existence as pointless and that what I do doesn’t matter then typically my actions reflect this. I may speak to others with anger, frustration and dismiss them out of hand. I may squash and kill other beings without remorse just because I can and I may do many other things throughout my days that reflect a life that has no meaning.
However, if I feel the immensity of my actions and know that everything I do, everything I say and everywhere I go (whether it’s true or make believe) greatly matters, suddenly my actions take on a whole new meaning and I become very aware of myself in life.
That’s hopefully not a reason to freeze in fear, or become overly self-indulgent. Hopefully it’s to recognise how powerful each moment can be so that we can inspire one another, spread love and joy to all other beings and create the life we wish to see.
Because it’s just as the Dalai Lama so brilliantly phrased it…
“If you think you’re too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.”
So, then maybe when if I were to ask you the same question again — if the whole world followed you would you be happy with where you took it?
You could respond with a resounding YES!
And so could I.
What would that world look like?
That’s the new world I wish to be apart of.
Do you wish to join me?