To make the world a better place, start with the human in the mirror

It’s that time of year when the slower post-holiday pace gives us space to reflect not only on the past year but also on the promises of a new year. Holding the past while imagining the future can help us map out a path forward, a path that embraces potential, opportunity, growth and joy.

But 2020 was a heavy year in so many ways that it feels nearly impossible to be strong enough to reflect and hold all we have been through. Add continued uncertainty around when we will be safe to resume person-person interaction and this ritual that we have done for years, holding the old and the new, becomes overwhelming.

Last week, when I started to reflect on 2020 and felt overwhelm and uncertainty stirring in my belly and chest, I also noticed a voice singing “na na na, na na na”. When I slowed down to hear the song playing in my head, the lyrics below were loud and clear*:

I'm starting with the <human> in the mirror
I'm asking <them> to change <their> ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change

~ Glenn Ballard & Seida Garrett

The lyrics above are from ‘Man In The Mirror’ and I felt chills running through me as I listened with intention, especially the part “no message could have been any clearer”: intentionally focusing on changes we could do to ourselves and for ourselves, theoretically we could be making the world a better place.

What if we threw theory out the window and instead boldly embraced changing, growing, evolving, and healing ourselves just for fun? Seems like being less judgmental of what we say or do could feel really good and it wouldn’t induce a hangover. If we nourished ourselves with preparing our own meals that were mostly plant-based with small amounts of animal protein, our mood and energy could improve by balancing our brain ‘chemicals’ without synthetic substances. And what if we spent 30 minutes outside, walking / running / biking, without being attached to a smartphone, and took in the sights, sounds and feel of the outdoors instead of spending 30 minutes on social media? Would you be making the world a better place by making these changes for your own well being? I passionately and wholeheartedly feel this is true.

We can change the world by starting with ourselves. By bringing kindness, compassion, nourishment, and connection to the outdoors into our daily life we can experience profound growth and a sense of feeling grounded to who we really are … human beings, interacting with ourselves, each other and the planet with respect and appreciation of the true magnificence of the human body and planet Earth.

If any of this is resonating with you I encourage you to challenge yourself this year to bring some sort of self compassion into your day, every day, for at least 14 days in a row. You can bring kindness and compassion to yourself by starting your day off with a big glass of filtered water, or taking a 30-minute walk around your neighborhood while leaving your cellphone behind, or eating a homemade salad that contains organic ingredients with tons of colors, or sitting quietly while focusing on your breath for 10 minutes. Alternately, you could go all in and do all of these in one day. By making these changes your daily quality of life could significantly improve and you could feel more inclined to extend judgment-free kindness and to others. I believe these small but significant changes to our daily lives could, and will, make the world a better place.

* edited to be gender neutral