S4 Ep19: In the Great Cosmic Scheme of Things, Do I – And Anything I Do – Matter?
Does anything I do Matter?
The Squirrels in my brain are being major dicks at the moment. Why? Because they’re chewing on thoughts that do me no good and are almost entirely out of my control.
On top of my work to be as genuine and true to myself as I can be, there are other things I can’t pretend don’t exist. It’s far too easy to feel a sense of impending doom and gloom about the world right now.
Taking a different vantage point
While the above can and does impact us in different ways, for the most part, this is indirect.
Here’s the thing – what can I do about anything going on in the world at large? The answer is little to nothing.
Focusing on it and giving it all of my attention doesn’t help the situation. Unfortunately, it also doesn’t help me and my life.
When you look at the big picture, and the situations all around the world, it feels like anything we do doesn’t matter. However, that’s simply not true.
Does anything I do matter?
Of course it does. It matters to me. What that means is that anything that I do matters. It matters to and for me.
Ah, but isn’t that selfish? From a certain point of view, yes. That, however, is dependent on your definition of selfishness. Mine is simple. Any action taken with malice of forethought, knowing full well that you are causing hurt or harm to another, and YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT THAT, is selfish.
Acts of self-care, though someone might call them so, ARE NOT SELFISH.
When you begin with self-care, you become more empowered. When you are more empowered, you become a beacon. That beacon can help others to also become empowered.
Does what I do matter? Hell yes. Because we get one shot each, in this time, living and experiencing in these bodies. How I make the most of that time is what matters most. That starts for me, first.
Am I making choices and decisions to live, to do, to experience life? Or not? Are you?
Does anything I do matter to the big picture?
In the abstract, no. However, when you zoom in on yourself and your life, it absolutely does matter.
Know this – choosing to be the best you that you can be, to live with passion, does no harm to others. We’re not in competition for either tangibles or intangibles. Hence, you or me deciding to live as fully as possible doesn’t mean someone else can’t.
When I am mindful of and work with this, I’m empowered. I believe that choosing and deciding to live life as fully as possible matters. To make anything I do matter to the big picture, I must start with myself from within to do more without.
This is not selfish, but it is self-interest. I alone live my life and can be who, what, where, how, and why I desire to be. You have the exact same power and ability, too.
This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool:
Write out everything that is on your mind right now. List it in three columns – good, bad, neither, or neutral. Please each thing on your mind – no matter what it is, and if it’s big or small, personal or global – on the page or screen.
Give yourself 2-5 minutes to do this. Stream of consciousness, write anything that comes to mind.
When done, highlight, circle, or underline anything you cannot directly control. For example, politics, war, horrible people and business practices, and so on.
When done, rewrite the list excluding all of those things. From the new list, when it comes to the neutral or the bad, what, if anything, can you do with or about it?
Lastly - write out all the things from the list that you removed because you cannot control them. What, if anything, can you do about them? If nothing, can you release them and move on without them?
Use this exercise anytime you find yourself questioning if you matter and/or feeling overwhelmed.
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