We are back! I imagine everyone had some fun during the weekend or at least was able to get done what they wanted to get done. Today I wanted to share something that I have picked up and learned over the past couple years. Many times people go out of their way to persuade or influence others. This of course may be due to caring for others and wanting the best for them. However, we may be interfering with others’ lives not knowing that we may not know what is best for them. This causes us to expend our energy without any progress in our efforts. Let’s talk about how minding one’s own business may actually be a good thing.
What do you think about when you hear the phrase “mind your own business.” You may think about a past moment when someone told you this after asking about what is going on. Many people have a negative association of this phrase because it makes us feel we can’t socialize or express ourselves. People have a need or desire to connect with others and know what is happening in others lives. However, when we take a closer look at the past view of this phrase we can see that many times when we wanted to be in the loop it was often associated with gossip or forming opinions of others based on an event that happened in the past. We can rationalize then that minding our own business can be good as to not spend time talking of the possible mistakes or misfortunes of others.
In today’s world we can know what others are doing within seconds with the use of the internet. It is easy to spend hours of our time trying to stay in the loop. Although it is good to be generally informed, when we are consumed in other people’s affairs we are using much of our energy needlessly which causes much stress on our brains and bodies. We may not even have to be talking about it but even when we get caught up thinking throughout our day about other people’s lives then we continually scatter our energy thus not being able to enjoy our own lives. Even the greatest inventors, athletes, and artists knew not to get caught up in other people’s drama if they were going to accomplish what they set out to do. Now we can see that minding our own business can be good.
We have all made mistakes in the past. Realizing this more we can see that others’ mistakes and/or misfortunes are not something to be dwelled upon but merely to be aware of and if needed to offer help towards. When we start to focus more on the good of others and celebrate his or her accomplishments more, we allow ourselves to acknowledge our own achievements. Minding our own business allows us to better help ourselves to be more present, to take things one at a time, to be more aware in helping others when needed or asked upon and to be an example for them.
Have a great week!
Dr. Chip
