Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas
My mom taught me a lot. A lot about minding your own business and leaving other people’s business alone. And let them think what they want. Ray Charles
Are we meddlers, do we just need to get in there and fix things that aren’t our business, and yet we leave things that are our business unfixed? I hate to admit it but I fall into this category. I just want to make sure everything works out for everyone, but people can and should make their own plans, and make sure their schedules don’t clash. What am I doing in the middle?
If this person shows up at this place at the same time as another person, there will be a clash, and we don’t want that to happen. But, if we aren’t part of the proceedings maybe we should stay out of it. We tell ourselves that, but it is hard to stay out of other people’s business. We think a little advice here, a point of interest there. I found a cute little quote. “Hey, I found your nose. It was in my business again.”
Do we have our business in such order that we can mind someone else’s business? Wouldn’t that energy be better looking after our own business? How far does letting people look after their own business go? Where does helping those who need help, sometimes when they don’t want our help come into play?
What is the point where our business stops and someone else’s begins as a family, society, country, and world? What would my life look like if I really minded my own business in the extreme sense?
When we try to help the homeless aren’t we minding their business? When we try to help addicts? When we get into abortion debates, isn’t that someone else’s business? What if we took extreme ownership of our own lives and left others to take extreme ownership of theirs? Would our society be better, or worse?
This life is mine alone. So I have stopped asking people for directions to places they’ve never been. Glendon Doyle
Another cute little quote, “Don’t worry about what I’m doing. Worry about why you’re worried about what I’m doing.” It’s a good question, why are we so worried about what other people are doing? Are we complicating what should be a simple life by getting into other people’s business?
Are we doing our best to live the best life we can with dignity, honesty, truth, and gratitude for what we have and not envying others for what they have? If we are keeping our relationships as free from drama as we can, making sure we can look after our own affairs as long as possible, isn’t that a worthy goal? We can’t fix other people’s problems and often our help is not wanted, appreciated, or accepted. If we look after our life and deal with our problems when they are as small as possible we may impact other people’s lives in a good way because at least our problems don’t get inflicted on them.
Mom has done well to stay out of everyone’s business. She offers advice if asked and listens when we want to talk, and has minded her own business so she is not a burden on anyone. I try, but I don’t think I mind my business and stay out of other people’s business as well as Mom and Dad did.
Taking extreme ownership of their lives was what earlier generations had to do. If they didn’t make something happen in their lives no one else was going to do it. We can learn a lot from earlier generations, from reading books of wisdom and taking a long view of where our decisions are taking us.
Do we find other people’s business more interesting than our own?
One never gets a second chance to make a first impression, but remember first impression is not the last chance to make a good impression. Unknown
The biggest fool is the one who minds the business of others rather than minding his very own. Unknown
A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people’s business. Eric Hoffer
Thank you for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will come back and read some more, have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.
