First: be okay in the world.
Then: fix it.
It’s the only order of operations that ever really improves things.
First be okay in a world where everyone seems to want to attack each other, then fix it.
First be okay in a world where people always seem to want to find and exploit everyone else’s weaknesses, imperfections and failings, then fix it.
First be okay in a world where half the country seems to have lost their minds, then fix it.
First be okay in a relationship where the other person seems to fall short, then fix it.
First be okay in a relationship where I seem to fall short, then fix it.
First be okay in a fat, run-down, achy, acne-riddled imperfect body, then fix it.
First be okay in a mind burdened with regrets and anxieties, then fix it.
Any other order of operations just breaks it more.
Trying to fix the world in order to be okay in it is a fool’s errand.
Because I am okay before I think a stressful thought and believe it.
Always.
So if I believe I am not okay, I have inaccurate information. I am deluded. I am blind and deaf to the true situation and out of touch with its true essence. So I can only add stress. How could I ever hope to fix anything I’m not seeing clearly?
To fix something, I first have to see it as it truly is. In order to see anything as it truly is, I have to look at it as I truly am: perfectly okay in its presence.
In order to know that I am okay, I sit in it until I see I am held and will be held, that I am safe and will be safe, that I have enough and will have enough, that I am enough and will be enough. Right now, without changing a thing.
This knowledge doesn’t come from the world. It comes from within and then projects the world I live in.
I create my state of mind (and thus the world) through what I am thinking and believing.
Start there.
When I’m rooted in the kindness and safety of reality, the way to fix things will be plain as day.
So I get quiet and question every stressful thought, every thought that tells me, “I am not okay because…” or, “I will not be okay if…” and I go in search of the truth.
I’ll know I’ve found the truth when I am at peace.
When I am at peace, I will be okay in the world.
When I am okay in the world, it is perfectly clear what needs fixing. And it is then - and only then - that my actions bring about a world I want to live in.