The World Would Be a Better Place If…

I’m a dreamer (but I’m not the only one). I love the spirit of John Lennon’s words. I join him in imagining a world where we all live as one. So, not surprisingly, I have more than a few ideas about how to complete the sentence “The world would be a better place if…”

But, there’s one end to that sentence that has been lurking in my consciousness for the last few weeks. “The world would be a better place if we were all able to say ‘I was wrong’ with sincerity and empathy.” (I think we can all agree most family Holiday gatherings would be much improved by this as well!)

Unfortunately, every time I’m happily daydreaming about what everyone else needs to do to make the world a better place, a Mahatma Gandhi quote goes off in my mind like a loud alarm clock. “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Now that’s a rude awakening.

So, I’m forced to ask, “How well do I admit my own mistakes?” I’m not proud of the honest answer.

In every relationship each party makes mistakes; that’s the nature of being human. But it’s also human nature to focus on the other person’s wrongs instead of your own.

So, it’s very easy, when confronted with the truth of one of my mistakes, to reply with a sentence that begins with “But you…” Easy, yes. Productive, not at all.

So this Holiday season I’m challenging myself. I’m going to resist that temptation to push the attention away from my mistakes. I’m committed to replacing the “but you” with “I really see how my actions hurt you.”

It won’t be easy, but if I think the world would be a better place if everyone else did those things, I had better start trying.

Do you have an easy time owning your mistakes? How would you finish “The world would be a better place if…”? I’d love to hear from you!