The difference

Difference and change are not the same thing. The difference is a perception within ourselves. Change is an action taken. Something or someone may change, yet we may view it the same way we have viewed it. On the other hand, we can see things differently without there being a change. And that's the difference.

Change implies action which may or may not happen. To see differently is up to us...and this changes everything. In practical terms, this could be seeing the neighbor's mid-morning loud music (and his singing along) as a happy human letting loose, seeing drug-addiction as an illness that can be treated, a missed deadline as a call to reprioritize, faults that we find around us as opportunities to contribute positively by participating in solutions, obstacles as chances to take a moment to discern–to pause before taking further action, what bothers us in others as something we may need to work on within ourselves, and responsibilities as something that comes with our privileges.

I have learned the difference through meditation. In going within, I have found that many things around me remain the same, yet they are different to me. I have learned to deal with my feelings of impotence relating to what bothers me. I can't grief enough for the dead, hurt enough for those who suffer violence, ache enough for those who are hungry in order to change those circumstances. Going within in meditation quiets my mind enough for me to be able to hear something other than pain and fear. In meditation I become aware. I receive insight, inspiration, ideas, solutions and a change of attitude. I see differently. I see what is my part in all of this, what my lessons are, what my contributions can be and then I am then able to be the difference. I can apply this to all areas of my life.

Today is a good day to take a few moments to go within, to quiet our minds, to find tranquility in the midsts of all that bothers us, to see others–even the ones that make us angry–with kindness, to transform and evolve the way we think in order to see and be the difference.

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